Do you fancy a tortoise for a housemate? If so, then this Edinburgh mansion is for you

It’s that time of year again, when every boy and girl with a mullet or a pair of flares migrate back, in their return to Edinburgh for another academic year. Chilly’s bottles in hand, the majority of returning students will have their digs sorted for the oncoming year, however if you and your flatmates are still looking, then we may have found the perfect place for you.

Available for the low price of £925,000, the five-bedroom terraced house has stunning period features throughout, beautiful landscaped gardens, an elegant dining room and most importantly, a live-in tortoise.

Listed on the Rightmove, the exquisite house is described as, “beautifully presented throughout combining elegant period features such as ornate cornicing and working shutters with modern fixtures and fittings such as the upgraded shower room.”

However, the listing truly seals the deal when describing the property’s gardens. Ending the section with the amazing revelation that the house comes with a tortoise, who calls the grounds its home.

A vast improvement to every student in Edinburgh’s usual household pet, that being mice.

The ‘resident’, although unnamed tortoise, is reported to have lived on the property for over 70 years and the estate agents and the current sellers of the house have no intention of changing that, informing any prospective buyers that the shelled reptile will “remain at the property”.

One can only imagine the hijinks that would ensue with a roaming tortoise when trying to study or hosting pres. Alas, with the property’s price being more than likely just a little over the budget of a typical student, we just have to hope that this reptilian patriarch will find his forever family soon.

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