Yours for £3m, the commuter country estate
Live like a laird ... only 20 miles from the city
IT is a vast rural holding that is a paradise for fans of hunting, shooting and fishing – all without spending hours trekking to the remotest areas of the Highlands.
For Duchal Estate allows its owner to live like a laird in the countryside yet be within commuting distance of Scotland’s largest city.
The 450-acre property – which boasts a nine-bedroom Georgian manor – is only 20 miles from the centre of Glasgow.
The estate is now on sale for offers over £3million – but potential buyers are warned it is in ‘dire need of some tender loving care’.
Duchal, by the affluent and pretty village of Kilmacolm, renfrewshire, has belonged to the Maclay family since 1915.
Owner Lord Maclay is the grandson of shipbuilder Joseph Paton Maclay, who made his fortune shipping sugar from Cuba and coal to South Africa.
One local property insider said: ‘It does look grand... but the property is in dire need of some tender loving care.
‘It takes a good while to drive up the approach to the house because the road surface is so poor.
‘The big house does not even have central heating and the carpets are threadbare. Whoever buys it needs to spend around £5million on the house alone.’
Duchal House was constructed in 1768 and boasts a total of nine bedrooms. Included in the sale – or by separate negotiation – are six cottages, which are said to provide an income stream.
Estate agent Knight Frank – which yesterday invited offers for the estate – paints a picture of a rural idyll, with pleasant walks and an abundance of wildlife.
The listing states: ‘Centred on the front of the house is a designed landscape consisting of a longtime tree avenue. At the rear of the house are lawns and the river Green Water with a footbridge over into the walled garden.
‘before you reach the bridge, you come to outhouses and two Grade b listed cottages.
‘The Green Water, a tributary of the river Gryfe, adds a unique dimension to both garden and house, with kingfishers, dippers and wagtails regularly seen, as well as otters from time to time.’
The estate also boasts salmon and trout fishing, roe deer stalking and duck shooting. And you can still be in the office for 9am.