The designed landscape was laid out between 1750 - 1850 and the original structure remains today.
There is evidence to suggest that The Binns has been inhabited since prehistoric times and it is thought that Binns Hill was the site of a Pictish Fort. The earliest written records of the lands of the Bynnis date from 1335. It is not known whether a house existed there at that time but there was one certainly by 1478 owned by Archibald Meldrum, son of the late James Meldrum of the Bynnis. When it left his possession is uncertain but, in 1599, the proprietor, James, Lord Lyndsay, sold it to Sir William Livingston of Kilsyth and in 1612 it was purchased by Thomas Dalyell. Since then the House of the Binns has been the home of the Dalyell family.
In 1601 Thomas Dalyell married Janet Bruce, daughter of Sir Edward Bruce of Kinloss, Master of the Rolls to James VI of Scotland. Sir Edward and Thomas joined the King in London in 1603 when he succeeded to the throne of England, with Thomas in the capacity as Deputy Master of the Rolls. He returned to Scotland some nine years later and, with the fortune which he had accumulated, purchased The Binns. His son, Thomas, is thought to have been born in 1615 and grew up to be the most eminent man of the family history, General Tam Dalyell. Educated at home, he travelled on the Continent before returning to Scotland to sign a petition protesting against the enforcement of the Book of Common Prayer in Scottish churches. A Royalist, he became elevated in the armies of Charles I and II until, in 1654, he was forced to flee with the latter to the Continent. He then joined the Russian army where he was promoted to General and made a Noble of Russia. After the Restoration, General Tam returned in 1666 to take charge of His Majesty's Forces in Scotland and thirteen years later was made their Commander-in-Chief. He founded the Royal Regiment of Scots Dragoons in 1681, who were to become the Scots Greys in 1877 and, as their Colonel, oversaw their first muster at The Binns. Between the time of his return to Scotland and his death in 1685, he added to the house which his father had built.
A Baronetcy was conferred on General Tam's son, a title which had been intended for his father. The 4th Baronet, Sir Robert Dalyell, carried out improvements to the house and grounds in the mid-18th century and these were continued by the 5th Baronet, Sir James, in the early 19th century. His brother, Sir John Graham Dalyell, was knighted in 1836 in recognition of his services to literature and science and succeeded his brother as 6th Baronet in 1841. Shortly after the 19th century improvements, land had to be sold to meet their cost.
During World War II the house was occupied and, inevitably, the gardens suffered a period of neglect. In 1944, Mrs Eleanor Dalyell of The Binns sold the woodlands and land to the east of the present boundary and granted a Charter of The Binns to the National Trust for Scotland with an endowment for its upkeep in order that the 'history, legend and memory of the family of Dalyell of The Binns, shall be preserved...' for the benefit and enjoyment of the nation. Mr Tam Dalyell, MP for Linlithgow, presently resides at The Binns with his family; Mrs Kathleen Dalyell is the National Trust Representative for the House of the Binns.