KEYS TO KNOW

Kirsty Mcluckie explores a coach house conversion with an impressive contemporary extension

The Coach House, by Scotlandwell, in Perth and Kinross, is a six-bedroomed country house in a private setting, with a spacious garden and far-reaching views.

What started in the 1700s as a stable block for the neighbouring Arnot Tower estate has had not one but two remarkable transformations in the past decades, going from farm building to a fine country home and then growing with the addition of a contemporary wing.

Owner Andy Sheppard bought the block in 1994 and describes it then as not much more than a stable and outbuilding: “There was a main stable. To the right was a barn door leading to a cart shed and the window on the roofline had a hoist to the hayloft.”

A small flat above had served over the years as accommodation for grooms.

After upgrading the accommodation, Andy moved in and started reconfiguring and finishing the rest of the building.

With a degree in design, and a day job as a designer for Mozolowski & Murray, he brought project management skills to the task. It was a big job, however, with Andy camping in one part while work was being done in another.

One notable feature of the finished house is the use of wood in the hand-made panelling and doors which put to good use some of the original materials.

Andy explains: “Working with a joiner, the pitch pine flooring joists were so huge they could be cut down to make panelling in the sitting room and the doors.

“When we ran out of the old flooring we managed to find reclaimed pine from a jute mill demolished in Dundee to finish and to make the staircase and the front door.”

The single solid piece that was left at the end now takes pride of place as the mantelpiece.

Over a couple of years a beautifully laid-out traditional house emerged, with a sitting room, dining room and kitchen downstairs and four bedrooms and two bathrooms upstairs.

Some might say the house was finished but Andy says: “I’d always thought that it could be extended and when I carried out the refurbishment I did add a garage which I thought could, in future, be turned into an extra room, with a loft above which could perhaps make an extra bedroom.”

However, the more he lived in the property, the more he felt that any extension should be more ambitious.

In 2012, his own circumstances changed with the downturn in the property market and he decided to leave his job and to concentrate full-time on developing his own house with a contemporary extension.

He says: “For two years I worked on this project full-time and in total it probably took three-and-a-half years plus the planning stage beforehand.”

He hired an architectural technician to draw up the plans and a structural engineer for the steel beam work, but the design was his own and the work was carried out by Andy and a labourer.

Not only is the resulting extension beautiful, it is cleverly designed.

Andy says: “I didn’t know how I would use the house so I designed it to be completely self-contained, so that we could live in one part and rent the other if necessary.”

The extension houses a magnificent open-plan family room, dining area and kitchen with handcrafted elm surfaces, slate floor and stove on the ground floor along with two bedroom suites featuring double-height windows above.

The old house also has a kitchen which is still used for most of the cooking. Andy says: “We tend to use the new kitchen for breakfasts and as a bar for parties. But you could shut the doors and live in either part completely separately.”

Outside, what started as a stable courtyard, a field and a cart track has been transformed by Andy’s hard work into a landscaped garden. Some of the wall was there already, but he built the steps to complement it.

Now he and his partner, Kirsteen Wilkinson, have a 15-month-old son, Angus, and the couple are embarking on a new challenge.

Andy says: “Kirsteen is an architect, and with her skills and mine, we have a dream of designing and building one-off holiday cabins, so we are looking for suitable land for a new project and a holiday business.”

He says of The Coach House: “The time that I spent working on the house is quite a big chunk of my life but I feel that it has taught me a lot and I have to take that and make something of it.” The Coach House, Arnot Tower, Scotlandwell, Perth and Kinross. Six-bedroomed country house with sitting room, dining room and large open-plan living and dining kitchen.

Mature sheltered garden.

Guide price £850,000. Contact Lindsays on 0131 229 4040.