DUTCH courage

Anja and Jan Jacob le the Netherlands for a new life in a characterful, treasure- lled house in the Sco ish Highlands

We’re not the long-term planning types. We tend to go with the opportunities that present themselves,’ says Anja Baak, explaining how, 20 years ago, she and her husband Jan Jacob came to leave their home in the Netherlands in order to start a new life in the Sco ish Highlands.

The rst of these opportunities was a chance encounter with a fellow countryman, who had bought a Highland estate and o ered Jan Jacob the job as his estate manager. The couple leapt at the chance to embrace a more outdoorsy life in a less densely populated country, li le knowing that it was the rst step on the journey that would not only lead to the whitewashed co age that is now their home, but also to a future business venture – Great Glen Charcuterie.

‘Even a er all these years, I still get that wow feeling when I drive up to the house,’ says Anja, and it’s easy to see

why – tucked away in the hills around Lochaber, with spectacular views of the surrounding countryside, the house sits in splendid isolation. Only those in the know venture up the gravel drive that leads to the front door.

Jan Jacob had known about the property for a while, having chanced upon it some years earlier while out walking. ‘He loved it so much that he immediately enquired about who owned it, only to be told they were de nitely not going to sell,’ Anja recalls. But some years later, in 2010, when the estate changed hands for the third time, the couple decided it was time to focus on their own business, Great Glen Charcuterie, a small venture they had established as a sideline. However, giving up the job on the estate also meant giving up their home.

As luck would have it, a friend told them the house that was

‘Even a er all these years I still get that wow feeling when I drive up to the house,’ says Anja.

Described as a co age, the house is a mass of curious contradictions and feels far grander than one might expect. Its wonderful features make it feel older than it is.

seemingly unobtainable had just come onto the market. They wasted no time and arranged to view it the next day – and found themselves moving in just three weeks later.

The property, designed by the architect Ian Gordon Lindsay, dates to 1937. Described as a co age, the house is a mass of curious contradictions and feels far grander than one might expect. In addition, its wonderful features, such as the built-in bookcases and open replaces, make it feel older than it is. All of this is a re ection of the architect’s desire to create a modest house in a baronial style. ‘The staircase was probably the thing that sold the house to us,’ says Anja. ‘It has such a castle-like feel.’ Since moving in eight years ago, the couple have created a home that combines this fortress-style splendour with bags of rustic charm. Today, for instance, the sweeping curve of the staircase is decorated with antlers from local roe deer.

Wherever possible, Anja and Jan Jacob chose to retain the property’s original features, and fragments of the original decoration informed the choices they made when they came to update the interior. While removing old wallpaper in the dining room, they discovered a layer of vibrant turquoise paint and decided to redecorate the room in a colour that was close to the original. Trying to maintain this sense

Anja made the curtains from a Morris & Co fabric designed at the time the house was built.

of history, Anja made the curtains from a Morris & Co fabric designed at around the time the house was built.

‘We like timeless pieces that are well made,’ she says, pointing to their old leather sofa, which came with them from the Netherlands. Their furniture is a mix of pieces picked up at the local auction and things they have made for themselves, such as their bed and the dining table. ‘And I can never walk past a skip without peeping in,’ she laughs.

Renovating the property while also establishing their business has meant that some areas of the house have only just been nished. The vintage bath, which they acquired even before they’d bought the house, sat on the landing for several years before it was installed.

Anja and Jan Jacob have no regrets about moving to Scotland. And while the faint trace of an accent suggests they’ve come from afar, they are happy to call the Highlands their home.

Only those in the know can find their way to Anja and Jan Jacob’s house, as it is tucked away among the hills. The house sits in a one acre plot of land. Beyond that, there is nothing but open countryside and the mountains in the distance. LEFT The couple discovered the vibrant turquoise shade beneath the old wallpaper they were removing and decided to replicate this colour when they repainted the dining room.

THIS PAGE The built-in bookcases with their arched tops are an original feature of the house. The mismatched chairs around the dining table have been acquired over the years from local auction houses; the cyanotype print of the cottage was made by local artist Ali Berardelli. LEFT ‘We like timeless pieces that are well made, such as the leather sofa that we brought over from the Netherlands,’ says Anja.

In the kitchen, the Esse range cooker is well and truly the heart of the house. ‘It’s a woodburning oven, so it’s always on with something simmering in the bottom, or bread or a pie being baked,’ says Anja.

CLOCKWISE FROM TOP RIGHT A Highland life would not be complete without a walking stick and, over the course of nearly two decades, Jan Jacob has amassed quite a collection; aside from the more formal dining room, the kitchen is a more relaxed place to gather and eat as a family; Anja consults one of her many cookery books for mealtime inspiration.

ABOVE Unusually for a house built in 1937, the staircase is made of concrete. Roe deer antlers add to the baronial effect. BELOW Jan Jacob chose the bathroom’s scheme – a rust hue for the restored bath and Henley floor tiles from Topps Tiles.