At the opening of Blackhope Scaur part two of The Blackhope Scaur Trilogy Finn and his family arrive at the house that Uncle Hugh McDougall is renting for the summer in the center of Edinburgh at Moray Place. Although I invented the details of what the house was like on the inside I kept as much as I could of the details accurate. Moray place really exists and presents an austere facade to the world.
As you can see it is a monotonous gray color and all the houses look much the same as each other.
At the entrance to each house there are steps going up to a large solid wooden door. I say in the story that all the doors are painted a slightly different shade of green, which isn't exactly true. Here is one that is blue! You can see that there are basement rooms set below the level of the street.
Finn gets to sleep on that room during his stay and is unsettled by the sounds and sights and smells of the place. There are solid wrought iron railings on the fences that line the street. They look a bit like spears and give Moray Place an even more unwelcoming feel, as if the houses are very well defended from outside intruders.
When Finn and Hadley leave to go exploring they go through the back garden, out a lane and head for the corner. Wullie scampers along keeping himself hidden beneath the kerb.
Here is a picture of a small back garden at Moray Place and the corner where they set off for their late evening adventure following The McCrones. This garden is smaller than the one I describe in the book and does not have a fountain containing a bad-tempered moss-covered gargoyle
, so you will just have to imagine that part.
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