Mary Tree Cottage
This cottage was so named after Mary Queen of Scots had planted a little sycamore tree there about 1561. She liked to stay at nearby Craigmillar Castle (extra) to escape from Holyrood in the crowded city of Edinburgh and the locality became known as Little France because members of her entourage were brought to Scotland when she left after her husband, the King of France died.
An old picture shows the tree growing beside the garden of the house.  In 1852 records state that the sycamore tree measured about 16 feet in circumference around its trunk.  A hundred years later it was written that the tree was in an advanced state of decay and had been cut, leaving only a stump about 3 metres high. A tablet said "This tree was planted by Mary, Queen of Scots about 1561."  Now it is no longer there and the adjoining site is an entrance for building the new hospital for  children.
Fairly recently the house was sold and it now looks very unkempt in comparison with a photo I took in 2014 from the bus (extra).  Probably the constant disruption of the building work and lack of privacy was instrumental in the owners wanting to sell because it would have been a relatively idyllic location before the new Royal Infirmary was built behind. 
This is part of my occasional series on places connected with the famous, but tragic, Mary Queen of Scots (see the tags)
(Mary Queen of Scots 20)