NOT all of Scotland's historic properties are ruined castles or stately homes.

Ever find yourself in Blantyre and you can cast your eye over one the oldest inhabited homes in the country, Brownlee Cottage.

Known locally as 'Aggie Bain's Hoose', it was built in 1536 and, in 1933, it still belonged to same family who had commissioned it.

That's the then owner, John Brownlee Bain, posing with his dog outside the cottage. Maybe he was on his way for a pint in the pub opposite; the Barnhill Tavern, known locally as the Hoolets Nest, where the late SNP MSP Margo MacDonald was once the landlady.

The cottage owes its strange shape to the demands of motor traffic, having had its corner lopped off to allow vehicles an easier turn into Bardykes Road.