Yester House in East Lothian boasts 85 palatial rooms, a top- notch architectural pedigree, modern-day cultural cachet, beauty, history, seclusion and a pheasant shoot in its 500 acres. The catch is that it will cost you £15 million, which would make it the most expensive house sold in Scotland, three times pricier than the current record, held by nearby Seton House, which sold last year for £5 million.

The 17th-century Grade A-listed house was owned by Gian Carlo Menotti, the opera composer and creator of the music festival at Spoleto, near Perugia, from 1972 until his death last year at the age of 95. £15million is a substantial sum even for an august stately home such as Yester, but the property is blissfully situated, offering the perfect tranquillity that a composer seeks while being only 30 minutes from the centre of Edinburgh and less than an hour from the airport. The agents confirm that there has been lots of interest, including some from overseas.

Yester was commissioned by the 2nd Marquess of Tweeddale in 1697, and his successors remained at the house until 1967. It stands on the edge of the handsome village of Gifford, down a leafy avenue leading to grand columned gates and twin lodges. As you bowl along the half-mile drive the house comes into view above a grassy ravine containing a stream that flows from beneath the building.

It's the work of William and Robert Adam and, before them, Alexander McGill and James Smith, the father of Scottish Palladianism. With its steep roof, imposing chimneys and tall sash windows, the building is almost a Scottish version of such splendid Charles II houses as Ramsbury and Coleshill. Adam gave Yester a festive temple-front centrepiece worthy of northern Italy, with large arched windows and urns on the skyline. Later, one of the bell-topped pavilion wings was replaced by a new Regency entrance in the form of a delightful glazed tempietto. This has to be the prettiest front entrance in the British Isles and is furnished with blue and white pots, planters and raised beds. It opens into a lofty hall with an inviting long vista through the house framed by noble Greek Ionic columns.

The thrill of Yester is that every room on the two main floors is a feast for the eye, with grand Baroque, Palladian and Regency marble fireplaces, splendid cornices and ceiling plasterwork. Although the main rooms are of palace proportions with 20ft-high ceilings, this is still a remarkably cosy place. Though the upper sashes of the windows are out of reach they can be raised and lowered by an ingenious system of cords and pulleys, all in perfect working order.

Many of the colour schemes and fabrics were chosen by Menotti's talented adopted son, Francis, artistic director of the Spoleto Festival. It would be heartbreaking to see the wonderful furnishings assembled by father and son leave the house and Francis is prepared to sell many of the contents with the building.

The hall is flanked by a business room with a lively trio of arches, and a beautiful library beyond. The double drawing room has matching white marble fireplaces and gilt mirrors at either end. Across the corridor is the 40ft-long dining room (which was the original entrance hall), again with matching fireplaces on opposite walls flanked by enchanting relief figures.

The opulent, soaring staircase hall has an Adamesque oval dome and rich plasterwork including busty ladies, staghounds and putti blasting hunting horns. The first-floor landing opens into a gorgeous ballroom with a steeply coved ceiling that provides a perfect acoustic for concerts. It's been called the finest room in Scotland. The fireplace has a swan pediment topped by winged griffins. Large painted scenes of Classical landscapes fill the walls. Opposite, the Music Room is dominated by a Baroque organ case transformed into a bookcase, rescued by Menotti from a redundant church in Spoleto.

There are six swaggering bedrooms including the Oriental Bedroom, with its walls stencilled in pale pastel colours and turbaned oriental figures over the doors. Other pretty rooms are an upstairs sitting room with Regency scenic wallpapers of India and a room filled with toy theatres. For a lively family this has to be the best-ever house for hide and seek, for it has four secret spiral staircases and well over a dozen rooms in its basement and attic.

A new owner might wish to plant box-edged beds and yew hedges in the large walled kitchen garden and open up windows providing views to the Lammermuir Hills.

Whether or not Yester's sale breaks records, its new owner should ensure that the show must go on. Parties, festivities, concerts - all must continue to play a part at Yester.

Fast facts

What you get: Top-flight stately home in 500 acres with six grand bedrooms and eight family ones; pheasant shoot. In all, 34,585 sq ft

Where it is: Twenty-one miles from Edinburgh

Best schools: The Compass primary school; Belhaven Hill prep in Dunbar; Loretto in Musselburgh

Where to eat: At home with your own chef

Price: £15 million, via Savills , 0131-247 3740, or Knight Frank , 0131-222 9600

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