Home projects perfected for a new owner

Creating a modern country idyll can be arduous, unless someone else has done it for you, says Kirsty Mcluckie

For high-quality contemporary living in the countryside, you could do worse than buy a property from the people who have built or converted it.

Such projects are likely to have been designed to make the best of the surrounding views with the benefits of excellent insulation and glazing.

Self-builds are also likely to be packed with the kind of highly attractive features that developers would only offer at a price, so such houses are usually unique and very good value.

Ardchattan Parsonage is an outstanding contemporary house on the shore of Loch Etive, in the hamlet of Bonawe, Argyll.

The property was converted from a church by the present owners in 2010 and occupies a superb location.

Designed to optimise loch views, the house has been built to exceptionally energy-efficient standards utilising green technologies.

The original font from the church adorns the driveway and the church bell is over the entrance porch. The front has been sympathetically converted to ensure it retains the understated character of the original, with cut granite stone walls and a new slate roof.

Inside, the double-height living, dining and kitchen space has picture windows with uninterrupted views of Loch Etive and the surrounding hills.

A separate apartment with its own terrace has been previously let as an Airbnb property.

The gardens are crisscrossed with pathways leading to the vegetable and fruit-growing terrace and a spring-fed pond. Steps leads down to a beach with a deck, seating area, boat house, slipway and fire ring, offering stunning views towards Ben Cruachan and Taynuilt.

Elsewhere, Crookston Mill in Heriot, Midlothian, is a former 18th-century saw

Imill which has been recently converted into a detached home, while retaining character and period features.

The ground floor has a large open-plan kitchen and dining room with a doubleaspect and modern touches, such as the Corian worktops and integrated appliances.

A glazed verandah leads out to the patio area with a glass canopy cover, infrared heating and lighting and there is also a garage and workshop.

It is a practical house, with five bedrooms and features such as the chic wet room and a first-floor sitting room with shuttered windows overlooking the garden.

The grounds, of three-quarters of an acre, feature lawns with mature trees, shrubberies and a tree house and is

bordered by the Armet Water, which runs through the eastern edge of the property, surrounded by woodland.

In Perthshire, Aros, near Aberfeldy, is set above the shores of Loch Tay.

It was the culmination of a long-held ambition of the current owners to design an eco-home, drawing inspiration from Swedish design philosophy.

In a south-facing, sheltered position, Aros has been finished to a high spec within established gardens full of colour and extended views of the Lawers Burn.

The house is energy efficient with a ground-source heat pump providing underfloor heating and hot water, and a mechanical ventilation system, heat exchanger and solar panels. t may look like a hobbit house, or something a Beatrix Potter character might live in, but Rustic Lodge is a unique A-listed cottage, reputedly built by the Marquis of Breadalbane circa 1840, as the gate lodge to Taymouth Castle near Kenmore.

At the back, the property is built in to the hillside, while the front has undulating eaves supported by tree trunk colonnades with a pebblecobbled floor.

Inside, things are more conventional. The one-bedroomed lodge has been fully restored to function as an upmarket holiday let.

It is south-facing, with outstanding views across the mountains and the rivers Tay and Lyon.

The cottage is offered fully furnished and decorated as a turnkey property, and comprises an open porch, kitchen and living room with integrated appliances, a wet room and boot room, and a double bedroom with modern ensuite bathroom and separate shower room.

Traditional detailing inside has been complimented by granite work surfaces and underfloor heating.

It also has a number of indulgent extras, such as a fuel-burning hot tub and a sauna cabin.

Alastair Houlden, director of country house sales at Rettie and Co. says: “It could well be the one of the most romantic and unique holiday homes to be had in Highland Perthshire.”