A village home for all seasons

In the countryside, but just outside Dundee, Denhead House is in a perfect location. A large main house, self-contained annex and a studio apartment sit in a glorious garden, while a heat pump and solar panels make it environmentally friendly...

Pam Watson was just 19 when she and her husband bought Denhead House. Back then it was just a humble country cottage. “We paid £2,200 for it,” she recalls. “It didn’t have electricity so it cost as much again to get us hooked up to the mains. When we first moved in we used to park outside then connect crocodile clips to the car battery so we could have a light on inside.”

The house sits on the edge of the hamlet of Fowlis, a few minutes to the north of Dundee.

It’s surrounded by fields and the Fowlis Burn flows through the garden, a pretty arched bridge spanning its flow.

It’s fair to say Pamela has absolutely transformed Denhead House over the near half-century she has lived there.

“We built an L-shaped extension,” she continues.

“Then my mother-in-law became a bit older so we built an annex for her to live in. After that we extended upwards and put on a second floor.”

Pamela has kept apace with environmental issues, too. The retired primary teacher – she taught at Fowlis and then Birkhill primaries – installed an air source heat pump and solar panels.

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The Fowlis Burn flows through the garden, a pretty bridge spanning its flow

• Denhead House, Fowlis, Dundee, is on sale with Galbraith for o/o £575,000.

• www.galbraithgroup. com

A log burning stove warms a comfortable living room, which is connected to the kitchen by a garden room. The kitchen is by John Lewis and has a utility room off it. Upstairs is a lovely master bedroom with views to the River Tay from its two banks of windows. There’s an en suite, a dressing area and a linen store with sink.

Two more bedrooms and a family bathroom complete the main accommodation. The annex connects to the main house but can be locked off to be self contained. It has a living room, kitchen/dining room, bedroom and bathroom, as well as its own offstreet parking and patio.

In the garden is a studio, which has an open-plan kitchenette, sitting and sleeping area, and a bathroom.

Pam has previously used the annex as an Airbnb, and latterly lived in the studio while she rented the main house out.

The stunning garden has stretches of lawn, a decking area, a bridge over the burn, several sheds, stabling for horses, and a small paddock. A robot lawnmower keeps the grass trimmed all year round and Pam intends to include this in the sale.

Now on her own, Pam 66, has decided to start a new life in Spain, and is moving to a small town in the mountains.

“I’ve had a wonderful life here and this house means so much to me,” she says. “It will be a wrench to sell it and sometimes I wonder if I’m doing the right thing.

“But then I look at the weather and see it’s 28 degrees in Spain!”