Find your crowning glory
IF your home-moving CV runs along conventional lines – a flat or terrace then a semi or detached house – perhaps you’re ready for a property that will change your life. What about living in a lighthouse, the Queen Mother’s secret picnic hideaway or taking on a self-catering business?
Moving home is always a serious business but it can also be a business opportunity, particularly in staycation Britain. According to eviivo (eviivo.com), online booking specialists for B&Bs and small hotels, bookings in the UK are up by 18 per cent from September to November, following a year where the exchange rate of sterling has seen foreign tourists flooding in.
Lower prices north of the border make Scotland an exciting place to browse for interesting homes. Take Stoer Lighthouse in Sutherland, where two apartments that have been let out to holidaymakers are on the market for offers over £371,500 with Bell Ingram (01463 717799; bellingram.co.uk).
Renovated in 2015 and 2016, they are also available separately, the ground floor apartment for £175,000 and the first floor flat for £170,000. A bothy in the grounds, included in the two-apartment package, would be for sale from £22,500 if the flats are sold separately.
“It has tremendous potential for those looking for a business opportunity, providing really stunning ‘stand-out’ holiday rental accommodation,” says Joanne Stennett, senior estate agent at Bell Ingram’s Inverness Office.
The flats are at the base of the lighthouse designed by Robert Louis Stevenson’s father, which is now maintained by the Northern Lighthouse Board.
“If somebody bought both apartments and let one out while living there they would have an income stream,” adds Joanne.
Stoer Head is near the North Coast 500 route, 500 miles of picturesque roads. The loop from Inverness hugs the coast up to John O’Groats and west along the northern coast past Thurso and on to Durness, then south through Ullapool down to Applecross and back over to Inverness.
It has transformed tourism in the Highlands in recent years says Joanne. “A lot of little craft businesses are cropping up and there are now 24-hour petrol stations.”
Also close to the route is Dorrery Lodge, a former shooting lodge near Halkirk in Caithness, once used as a secret picnic getaway by the late Queen Mother when she was staying at Castle of May, her Highland home near Thurso, 20 miles away.
It is on the market for offers over £475,000 with Bell Ingram and Joanne is particularly enthusiastic about its period features including the Royal cipher of King Edward VII on its tower and an Edwardian billiards room and library, with the full-size billiards table part of the sale.
THERE’S also a gun room and deer larder, original cast iron fireplaces and a steading available for development, with first-class salmon fishing in the nearby rivers Thurso and Halladale.
Its nine bedrooms and three bathrooms mean it has potential for re-configuration and it comes with nearly eight acres of land.
“It would be a hugely intriguing place for entertaining guests,” says Joanne.
And for those looking for a change of lifestyle south of the border a Northumberland stone cottage and former blacksmith’s forge is for sale at £795,000 with the potential for renting out the forge – now a two-bedroom cottage – for selfcatering holidays.
Grade II listed four-bedroom Low Nest Cottage and two-bedroom Barn Cottage are on the market with Finest Properties (01434 622234; finestproperties.co.uk).
Less than seven miles from the dramatic sandy beach at Bamburgh and 10 miles from the idyllic market town of Alnwick, it could be the start of a new adventure.