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T Wood with Edinburgh beyond

6 From Green Craig Cistern take the path to the right that skirts the foot of the hill, passing the aptly named Smithy Cleuch (from the Scots smailly, meaning ‘narrow’), and keeping by the plantations until you reach the path that threads along by Long Plantation at NT230676. This point is about 1km from Green Craig Cistern.

7 Go over a stile (or through the gate) straight ahead onto a wide track, which tucks in behind Torgeith Knowe, and some gas installation buildings on your left and a golf course on your right. Follow the track until you come to a large whitewashed house to your left, set in mature gardens – this is Swanston Cottage. From Swanston Cottage continue past a small lodge house on your left and the livery yard on your right. Return to the car park by walking past some converted farm buildings (now offices) and turning right when you reach the road, slightly up the hill.

Swanston Cottage, and indeed the area around the hamlet, has strong associations with Robert Louis Stevenson. The house was built in the late 18th century as a general meeting place for the Edinburgh city fathers. A second storey was added in 1835, the thatched roof replaced with slate, and bow windows built. Thomas Stevenson, Robert Louis’ father, took the summer tenancy of the house in 1867. The cottage and surroundings became the setting for many of Stevenson’s novels and poems, including St Ives and The Pentland Rising.