An Edinburgh townhouse with a unique "invisible" wheelchair lift hidden in the external steps has gone on sale.
The remarkable piece of engineering was installed at a cost of around £100,000 by multiple sclerosis sufferer Dr Angelica Goodden.
The retired Oxford University historian with a keen eye for conservation and a love for her late Georgian A-listed Town house, was faced with major problems as she realised she would soon no longer be able to safely access the property.
As she heads south of the Border to be closer to family she leaves behind an ingenious piece of engineering, the first in Scotland and installed through her desire to preserve the existing fabric of the property in Gayfield Square.
Dr Goodden commissioned a team of experts to create a lift access to the ground floor, via the existing entrance staircase.
It works by lowering a section of the existing staircase down level with the pavement, allowing a wheelchair user to easily board, and then rises up to meet floor level at the entrance door.
Designers said when not in use the lift, unlike most similar devices, becomes invisible.
Dr Goodden said: "I have had MS for years but have reached the age where it will get worse.
"I don't want to give up.
"When wheelchair bound I intend to wheel myself everywhere.
"It's shocking something like this cost the best part of £100,000 but it will be a marvellous aid for the right kind of family who perhaps need such a device.
"It is a work of art and it was all worth it from a disability and an aesthetic point of view.
"It's a wonderful bit of design of which I am proud.
"It has given me everything I hoped for - I can go to and fro without asking a passer-by to help me down the steps
"It feels like best use of money I've made in my life
"It was very important to have won back the freedom I felt I did not have for a long time."
The house, which is being sold through McEwan Fraser Legal, is for sale at offers over £899,999.
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