Dalkeith House

Today’s my last day teaching classes and living in Dalkeith House. I’m going to miss this place: the huge grounds with their 700-year-old oak trees, the 20-foot ceilings, the beautiful paintings, the marble floors and fireplaces. The house is said to be haunted, but the larger-than-life statue of the Duke of Wellington in the Great […]

The Orangery

My favorite building on the Dalkeith estate is the ruined orangery. Once topped with glass and filled with palms and figs and banana trees, the orangery required a ton of coal each day to keep it warm. The ovens beneath the structure sent heat up through vents in the floor. Built in the 1800’s, it […]