Houses to take a plungeon Fancy a dip before dinner?
THIS WEEK: Dive headlong into luxury with an indoor swimming pool
IT’S difficult to conceive of a domestic accessory which better conveys luxury than your own private, indoor swimming pool. In grander properties, owners often include a pool in a standalone leisure suite, adding a Jacuzzi, steam room, and even a bar. Throw in a large-screen TV on the wall and you have the ingredients for a fabulous pool party with friends or family.
Blairmore House on Loch Long in Argyll is a stunning Victorian mansion which shows what can be done with lots of imagination and significant investment.
The house, near Dunoon, would not have sported this feature when it was built in the 1850s. It was almost certainly constructed for a wealthy Glasgow merchant, when owning a residence ‘Doon the Watter’ was a growing aspiration among the city’s business classes.
However grand their ambitions, the original owners could never have imagined that one day it would sport a 24ft leisure wing with heated indoor swimming pool, Jacuzzi, shower and sauna.
Blairmore House was once a nursing home, which accounts for each of the nine bedrooms in the three-storey property having its own bathroom.
With a perfect perspective of Loch Long, the sitting room or office on the first floor has one of the most enviable views of any desk in Scotland.
In the hallway are decorative arches, cornicing and beautiful stained glass windows, while ornate spindles on the magnificent wooden staircase bear testimony to the skills of the original Victorian craftsmen.
The drawing room makes best use of the views, with an expansive bay window looking over the loch.
Blairmore House boasts beautiful marble fireplaces and decorative pillars, while the dining room is classically finished in gorgeous wood paneling, framing yet another superb fireplace.
The country-style kitchen has a lovely four-oven Aga, a central breakfast island and beautiful granite worktops.
The leisure wing has altered the property footprint slightly but, by using matching sandstone, the changes have not diminished its B-listed signature.
The extraordinary thing about Blairmore House is the price. A well-maintained Victorian waterside mansion with modern leisure wing and it’s available for offers over £625,000.