‘BALAMORY’ HOUSE FOR SALE
Hostel that starred in Balamory needs a new story, says Jenny Shields
WITH its brightly painted houses lining the waterfront, it is one of the most celebrated streets in the Hebrides, a colourful scene that adorns everything from tea towels to picture postcards. Tobermory on the island of Mull was also memorably used by the BBC to film popular children’s TV programme Balamory, which featured characters such as Miss Hoolie, played by Julie Wilson Nimmo, and PC Plum, played by Andrew Agnew. It was also used in the 1971 film When Eight Bells Toll, based on Alistair MacLean’s novel.
The name Tobermory comes from the Gaelic tobar mhoire or ‘Mary’s Well’ and the town was established in 1788 by the British Fisheries Society, its layout planned by the great Dumfriesshire engineer Thomas Telford.
Now there is a chance to buy one of these properties, a handsome threestorey mid-terraced house in the middle of Main Street, which for 53 years has been used by the Scottish Youth Hostel Association (SYHA).
The property, which is constructed of rendered stone with a slate roof and is painted a deep pink, has a large reception hall, common r oom, kitchen/dining room and showers on the ground floor. On the first floor is a flat with a bedroom, bathroom, sitting room and small kitchen, three more bedrooms and a cloakroom.
The top floor has another five bedrooms and shower rooms. At the back of the property is a courtyard and terraced garden. Often, when the SYHA sells a property, it stipulates it should continue to be used as a hostel, but this does not apply in this case.
Peter Gillespie, of selling agent Savills, said the property could make a wonderful family home, adding: ‘It has beautiful views over Tobermory Bay, although it would need a degree of re-modelling and updating.’
Offers over £275,000 should be made to Savills in Glasgow.