Real-life Bond’s former home is 007 heaven
He met Bjorg, Duncan’s grandmother, while sailing the coast of Norway in the late-1930s.
When the Second World War broke out he travelled back to Britain and served as a naval intelligence officer and commando with James Bond creator Ian Fleming’s 30 Assault Unit.
Later, they moved to a remote part of Canada but around 1960 they returned to the Highlands to look for a place to build a house.
They found the site for Nead-aneoin and bought the land from the National Trust for Scotland.
They built the house in the early1960s with Norwegian influences.
When Duncan inherited the house it was rundown, having been uninhabited for years but the spectacular views remained unchanged and, as Duncan has so many happy childhood memories there, we wanted to restore it to encourage the family to use it again. We took six months off to do the renovation works ourselves over the summer of 2019.
Although the house was in a poor state of repair, the roof and cedar cladding were in good condition, so we insulated all of the external walls, replaced the windows, and gutted the interior, and replaced the electrics and plumbing.
We added a much needed second bathroom and removed some internal
walls to modernise the layout, opening up the kitchen and living area.
To keep some of the original feel we preserved the beautiful 1950s, Norwegian log-burning stove. We laid new flooring throughout, and redecorated inside and outside.
Emma, who has a keen interest in interior design, took the lead on creating a look that is distinctively Scandinavian with Scottish influences, such as the lampshades featuring Scottish wildlife and the tartan and tweed soft furnishings.
We wanted a simple, modern feel with clean lines and natural materials and colours; greens, neutrals, greys and wood.
We used beautiful Voyage Maison
lampshades to create a wildlife theme in each of the bedrooms – Highland cow, deer or pheasant.
We chose a bed from MADE with a headboard in calming Tarragon Green. Lighting above the kitchen table, and in the hallway and corridor are also from MADE (the Albert range in muted grey) while the ceiling lampshades in the three bedrooms are all a Pale Herringbone. All bedroom lampshades are from The Lampshade Barn on Etsy. The artwork is of Scottish landscapes (including one by Cath Waters) and of local scenes.
We have also hung Scottish maps and sailing charts.
We especially love the works we have by both a local Plockton and a famous Norwegian artist.
We decided to upcycle a lot of furniture such as chairs, bookcases and chests of drawers using Dulux Satinwood Egyptian Cotton and Satinwood Willow Tree.
Tartan and herringbone blankets and sheepskin rugs sit comfortably against the pale greens and creams to blend the Scottish and Scandnavian.
This was a challenging project but what kept us going was the passion and desire to revitalise the one-time home of Duncan’s grandparents. It’s now a place to create new memories.
“Nead an Eoin” means bird’s nest in Gaelic – and it really is the perfect retreat for us, and our guests.