Property specialist Austin Halliday extols the virtues of one of Scotland’s most popular lifestyle locations

KNOWN colloquially as Bofa, the town of Bridge of Allan is located just north of Stirling and began life as nothing more than a bridge over the Allan water in 1520 to carry traffic from Stirling to Perth.

Shortly after, a copper mine opened up in the hills near the bridge, followed by the discovery of mineral springs - the catalyst for a small settlement, which grew to become a Victorian spa town.

Today, Bridge of Allan’s mix of hotels, boutique shops, restaurants, cafés, railway station, schools, university campus, and close proximity to the M9, makes it a perpetual property hotspot for commuters and buyers of all ages – and as the town I grew up in, the perfect place for a Halliday Homes’ office.

Helping clients buy and sell town and country homes smoothly and successfully relies on who and what we know – and with our in-depth knowledge of local property market conditions and variations, coupled with an encyclopaedic knowledge of the town and wider area (enormously helpful for relocating clients), we know a lot.

And the beauty of having an established high street office is we hear things all day long … from who is thinking of putting their home on the market, to those who would prefer to sell off-market. The benefit of local knowledge, experience, and a local presence can never be overstated and invariably works to our client’s advantage.

Demand for an enviable Bridge of Allan lifestyle ensures property prices in the main stay ahead of the rest of Scotland. That said, there are signs the frenetic activity of late may have peaked, paving the way for a buyers and sellers to pause for breath long enough to appreciate the town and its rural surroundings.

But if a testimony is needed, poet and author Robert Louis Stevenson spent much of his childhood in the town – and later in life while living in France, wrote: ‘I shall never forget the days at Bridge of Allan; they were the golden dream.’ They still are.