The Chester Residence, Edinburgh

Many visitors wander around Edinburgh’s New Town goggle eyed at the spectacular Georgian sandstone buildings that soar from the historic streets. They can only dream of living inside one of these tall ceiling, big window palatial abodes at the heart of one of the world’s most beautiful cities. That is until now. Now that is The Chester Residence are offering a slice of luxurious townhouse apartment living.

The Chester Residence – As good as a Hotel?

We normally prefer hotels to apartments, but as soon we arrived we knew this was no ordinary apartment set up. We were meet by bright eyed, smart staff who showed us to our apartment, a grand two bedroom affair spread across a whole floor of a townhouse below Edinburgh’s streets. The long corridor offered up two en suite bedrooms and a bathroom with a stand alone bath and TV before we even got to the open plan living space.

Open Plan Living Space at the Chester Residence

The living space kicked off with a huge designer kitchen laden with neat little extras like a Nespresso machine with free refills and a basket of complimentary foodie goodies like a bottle of wine, proper biscuits and chunky crisps. Beyond the kitchen lay the living room with its twin large sofas and massive flat screen TV. Onwards still into the open plan oasis was a dining room for six that looked out over our private garden.

Enjoy a Private Garden at The Chester Residence

Natural light abounded in our suite, all streaming in from the large windows and doors that overlooked our large garden. Seats awaited outside a decent sized space that sloped steeply uphill in a flurry of freshly planted rose and lavender bushes, an ideal place to while away a morning when the sun takes the chill out of the North Sea breeze. It would also be ideal for a wee picnic.

You can cook for yourself when you are at The Chester Residence, but they also have an in-house chef who can rustle up some spectacular restaurant quality food. Or they can book you a table in a local restaurant or even arrange for a takeaway to be sent to your apartments.

Four Townhouses in One at the Chester Residence

We had only one of a total of 23 apartments. These come in all shapes and sizes, spread across a quartet of townhouses, stretching up a total of five floors. Each one is finished to a high standard and is super comfy. They are family friendly too as we had two kids with us, who had a ball. We are talking big comfy beds, Molton Brown toiletries, heated floors and the like. This is proper luxury without the confines and lack of a privacy of a hotel. In many ways The Chester Residence is more than a match for many of Edinburgh’s better hotels as you get all that freedom and privacy without losing many of the features that we like in hotels. And yes, of course, you can also savour the chance to actually stay in one of the gorgeous Georgian sandstone Edinburgh houses that visitors normally only get to ogle at in passing!

The Chester Residence, 9 Rothesay Place, Edinburgh, EH3 7SL.  Tel. +44 (0)131 2262075. www.chester-residence.com

InsiderScotland Rating

For Families 8/10

For a Romantic Break 8/10

For Food 5/10

For Business People 8/10

InsiderScotland Rating 8/10