WIN AT HOME
Highland footballing family’s delightful house is in a league of its own for space and privacy
AS good things come to he who waits, Charlie Christie has had a decade to delight in his decision to delay buying his new home. The dad-oftwo and his wife, Sharon, took a tour of a show house ten years ago and immediately fell in love with the Oaklodge detached villa on a highland development by Capital Homes.
Unusually, developer Bill Nelson took him to one side and advised against signing on the dotted line.
Mr Christie recalled: ‘Bill told me that, if I was not in a rush, he was building four more villas at the very top of the development.
‘He said they would be really highend, with fantastic views over the Moray Firth.
‘We are so glad we decided to wait. Everyone who sees this house remarks on how well it’s been finished.
‘Ten years on, this is the first of those four homes that’s come up for sale, which tells its own story.’
The only fancy ‘extra’ this house doesn’t have is a water feature in the garden. If it did, Mr Christie could probably walk on it, such is the high regard in which he is held in the Highlands capital of Inverness.
For many years, he was a player and then manager of Inverness Caledonian Thistle, the Cinderella club which leapt from the Highland League to the Premier League in just a few short seasons.
Cementing Mr Christie’s legendary status in the town was his participation in the 3-1 demolition of Celtic in the Scottish Cup in 2000.
The newspaper headline Super Caley Go Ballistic, Celtic Are Atrocious now enjoys pride of place in the foyer of the Caledonian Stadium.
It’s a back page he passes every day, as he is currently the head of youth development at the club.
Son Ryan, pictured right with his father, obviously inherited his abilities and moved to Celtic last year. The lad who once kicked a ball in the back garden could be starring in the Champions League in the next few months.
Mr Christie said: ‘It was an ideal home for our kids. Ryan was 11 and Paige was eight when we moved in.
‘It’s very private, set within a cul-desac, so we knew they were safe playing outside. Paige is very sporty too, and is an accomplished gymnast.’
Family nights inside would be spent at the top of the house, when the Christies would climb the stairs to the cinema room, armed with a box of popcorn, to watch a DVD on the big screen. A surround sound system came as standard.
The home’s accommodation is arranged over four levels, with the kitchen/ family room on the ground floor acting as the nerve centre of the property.
This area’s open plan format lends itself as much to informal family dining as a brilliant party venue, when guests can spill out to a rear terrace and the gardens beyond.
For more formal occasions, there’s the separate dining room and drawing room to the front. The ground floor also hosts what’s described as a possible sixth bedroom, even a home office.
The flagship apartment of the first floor, accessed via a solid wood staircase, is the Christies’ master bedroom suite. It comprises a spacious double bedroom, dressing area and a modern en suite shower room. There are three further bedrooms on this floor, plus an en suite shower room and luxury family bathroom with ‘his and her’ Porcelanosa circular wash-hand basins, Jacuzzi bath and inbuilt TV. The converted attic, currently the cinema room, could always be used as a further bedroom as it contains its own bathroom, complete with bath, WC, basin and shower. Highland League, Premier League, Champions League. You could argue this house is in a league of its own. Offers over £470,000 to Kevin Maley of Strutt and Parker, Inverness. Telephone 01463 719171 or email kevin.maley@struttandparker.com