The Courier & Advertiser (Fife Edition)
Messy business: Former pig sty on market for £1.5 million.
Farmer allowed his animals to roam inside Orchil Castle near Braco
Scotland’s grandest former pig sty has gone on the market for £1.5 million.
Orchil Castle was once owned by a farmer who was more interested in the land than the house which stood on it.
Choosing to live in the castle’s former laundry himself, he allowed his sheep and pigs to roam among the marble fireplaces and carved oak panelling on the ground floor of the castle.
Hens were kept on the second floor where some of their roosting perches can still be seen.
Its use as a barn was a far cry from its glory days in the 1920s, when the future King George VI, then the Duke of York, and his brother George, Duke of Kent, are reported to have been frequent visitors.
Dating from the 1860s, the castle, which is near Braco, was twice the victim of fire – being gutted in 1917, with the roof being lost in 1967.
The castle also played its part in the war effort during the 1940s, when the then owner, the redoubtable Colonel Dawson, kept watch for enemy aircraft from the castle tower.
But after the war the castle fell into decline and the estate was sold off, being bought by the farmer.
Orchil Castle has also served time as a foster home, an addiction rehabilitation centre and as a project for the Elim Pentecostal Church of America, who ran Bible study tours while getting students to restore the property.
It has been privately owned since 1995. It is being marketed by estate agents Savills.
The castle boasts four bedrooms, as well as a self-contained three-bedroom flat in the east wing and its own chapel.
The sale includes the cottage housed in the former laundry.
Also available as a separate lot or together with the castle is the south drive and walled garden, 35 acres of tree-lined driveway, woodland with a burn and a 1.4-acre walled garden with fruit trees and floral borders.
Jamie Macnab, Savills’ director of country houses in Scotland, said: “This magnificent house is an architectural gem that has been superbly rescued and brought firmly into the 21st Century, while still preserving its remarkable heritage.
“With further scope to develop the tower and upper floor, this is a rare opportunity indeed for a buyer to acquire a Scots baronial masterpiece and make it their own.”