WORK-LIFE BALANCE
When David Royce and Sally Keay upped sticks to open a B&B in Perthshire it took a while to find a place that could work as a home and a business, finds Nichola Hunter
Mixing business with pleasure at period property Cuil-an-Duin
Turning their hobbies into their livelihood was a huge change but David Royce and Sally Keay are relishing the challenge. The couple, who were formerly an accountant and teacher in London, opened Cuil-an-Duin, a three-bedroom bed and breakfast near Pitlochry in 2015. This dramatic change of lifestyle was prompted by a holiday in Wales several years earlier. ‘We stayed in an old and very rural, ramshackle hall,’ says Sally. ‘It was incredibly eccentric, but it sparked the idea that we could do something like that; find a property that we could open to guests. I had been brought up on a farm in Scotland and although David is from Manchester, he spent the weekends visiting his grandparents in North Wales and had a liking for the country from that.’
David laughs at this. ‘People ask “have you always wanted to do this?” but it wasn’t something we’d planned,’ he says. ‘However, once the seed was sown, it took a while to narrow down exactly what we wanted.’
After discounting several properties – too big, too small, too much of a business, not enough of a home – Cuil-an-Duin finally came to their attention in 2014. The B-listed, Edwardian country house was built by the 9th Duke of Atholl in 1924 as a private residence. Latterly used for war evacuees, the house was now being lived in by a family with the whole of the east wing used as a grandad annexe.
‘The layout of the house was perfect for how we wanted to use it,’ David explains. ‘Primarily we wanted a property that would be our home, which this is. It’s a large house and we have three rooms that we invite people to stay in. We’ve turned a hobby into our livelihood. Sally enjoys doing interior design which is an integral part of the business and I enjoy cooking. It works very well. We don’t have staff; we do everything ourselves and we have our areas of responsibility. Sally does everything to do with the house and I do the cooking, gardening and outdoor maintenance, although I can’t help interfering sometimes. Sally is constantly moving the cushions around.’
Before it came to moving cushions, there was however, a significant amount of work to be done. ‘The house was structurally fine, but it needed a lot of TLC,’ Sally remembers. ‘The grandad annexe which we’ve now changed into two self
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We wanted a property that would be our home
catering apartments was quite damp and full of furry creatures, but the main house was essentially tired and dated. The original features were still in evidence, but everything was painted magnolia.’
Along with a brilliant joiner and decorator, bathrooms were installed and reconfigured, the kitchen upgraded, and the colour scheme transformed. ‘Our decorator was so precise, he worked on Stormont in Northern Ireland and it was he who persuaded me to use Farrow & Ball’s Oval Room Blue in the drawing room which I love,’ says Sally.
David adds: ‘Sally could do Mastermind on Farrow & Ball! It took a while to sell our home down south, so she spent four years in the planning.’
Aside from her paint knowledge, Sally also has a passion for curtains, which the house needed plenty of. ‘I’ve bought 22 curtain poles and fortunately I found a lovely local lady to make all the curtains, which is all she did for about nine months. As the windows are single glazed, I had all the curtains double interlined. I sourced the fabric from Laura Ashley, John Lewis and The Fabric
Mill at Halley Stevensons in Dundee. I’m not a fan of feature walls and wallpaper but I do like a feature curtain.’
To complement the wooden floors, which are made from pine from the Atholl estate, the couple brought a selection of rugs from their previous home. ‘We bought them in a Harrods sale and they’re such amazing quality and work so well here. Most of the furniture in the drawing room and
dining room are from our previous property and the rest from local suppliers.
‘I think the house dictated a more traditional style and we were happy to embrace that. David has quite a few antiques from his grandfather which we’ve brought in and we found a brilliant interior shop near Aberfeldy called Spirit of Wood where we sourced a number of pieces too. We like original artwork and we have some pictures by local artists as we have plenty of wall space.’
‘We had a loose budget when we moved in,’ David explains. ‘The decision we took was that we’re only going to do it once, so we’re going to do it well. We did what we wanted for the house and when it came to the grounds (the house sits in 20 acres) we decided if we’re going to do it, we’ll have the right tools. We invested in a ride-on mower, quad bike and wood chopper and that has made such a difference. My new hobby is now making planters and bird tables!
‘It’s such a huge change from working in the city but we’re both doing what we enjoy. I think we’ll easily be here another ten years or so.’