This birds-eye view of Edinburgh dating from around 1695 shows the sweep of the Royal Mile from the Castle on the left, to the Palace of Holyroodhouse on the right. Around the palace to the south and north are the formal or privy gardens, identified as number 33 on the map. We can see also the orchards to the east, and the areas of cultivated land to the south. In 1689 a plot was let as a market garden and nursery to the first of three successive Williams Millars who leased the plot until at least 1765. The Millers’ commercial business supplied around 140 species of soft fruit and vegetables including cauliflowers, peas, broad beans, onions, cabbages and garden equipment including lines, rakes, bags, scythes, mouse traps, and shears. They supplied plants and flowers to the dukes of Hamilton and Buccleuch, and to the earls of Hopetoun at Hopetoun House. Proximity to a royal Palace might have assisted commercial success; it at least offered a useful landmark for their address ‘seedsman at the Abbey of Holyrood.’