Relocation Relocation Relocation
First couple on Channel 4 show decide to move on
IT’S the lifestyle fantasy held by many – upping sticks and starting a whole new life. In fact, the desire is so widelyshared, Channel 4 managed to create five different series out of the idea of indulging people’s property fantasies. You know the format of Relocation, Relocation – presenters Phil Spencer and Kirstie Allsopp show a couple how they could easily afford to sell up and buy another home in the place of their dreams.
The first couple on the first episode were Tom and Fiona Butcher, who wanted to trade their humdrum existence in the London borough of Hackney for the wide open spaces of Scotland.
Often, in programmes like this, you suspect that some participants are only ever in it for the ‘jolly’.
But looking back at the Butchers in 2002, the couple’s steely, determination was there for all to see.
Mr Butcher said to camera: ‘This is going to be the most fantastic thing we have ever done.’
Presenter Kirstie agreed. She said: ‘So many people think they can do this – relocating and changing their lives. But I think they have got the imagination, the energy, the skills.’
Thirteen years on, the Butchers have established a number of formi- dable businesses based around the elegant Victorian villa they bought at Arrochar, on the shores of Loch Long.
Mansefield House has been transformed into an upmarket selfcatering attraction, where guests pay up to £1,600 a week. The couple doubled the size of an adjoining cottage, where they live, and developed a pottery and gallery where Tom makes and sells his wares.
Yet, this is no cottage industry. The plates Tom makes are so soughtafter, they are used in the Savoy Hotel in London and in Michelinstarred restaurants across the country. Celebrity chefs Jamie Oliver and Martin Wishart are customers as well. With clients based as far away as Japan, Mr Butcher needs to begin manufacturing on an industrial scale and the couple have decided to sell the home of their dreams.
Taking a deep breath, Mrs Butcher, now a mother-of-three, said: ‘We have renovated the main house from top to toe, building it up to an amazing level of finish.
‘We have replumbed, rewired, decorated, added new bathrooms. We installed solar panels, renovated the gallery and doubled the cottage in size.’
Incredibly, the couple have never lived in the main house. Mrs Butcher said: ‘It is a business. As soon as we saw it, we knew it was a business.
‘It has been an amazing adventure. We have had our trials and tribulations, particularly with the banks.
‘But Tom’s business has gone stratospheric. The pottery side of things needs to grow because we simply can’t keep up with demand.’
Mansefield House is on sale at offers over £525,000 but there will be an additional fee to buy the letting business. However, the asking price for the bricks and mortar does not appear wildly unrealistic considering the Butchers paid £280,000 for it in 2002.
Downstairs highlights in the principal building are the traditional drawing room and dining room, where the cornicing, ceiling rose and picture rail are still intact. The drawing room has an ornate mahog- any fireplace, with Oregon potbellied stove.
A country kitchen is always the heart of a house and this is no exception. There’s a Rangemaster stove with four-burner gas hob, electric hot plates and double oven.
There is one bedroom on the ground floor, while the remaining four are all upstairs. One bedroom has an en suite shower room, while the rest have a wash hand basin.
The attached cottage, which the Butchers call home, offers fantastic, flexible, family accommodation. The centrepiece is the large sitting room with open fire. It has its own kitchen, utility room, three bedrooms and a fine family bathroom.
As if that was not enough, there’s the pottery, with separate kiln room, and the gallery-cum-sales room. Enough to put you in a spin.
Offers over £525,000 (plus business purchase) to Andrew Perratt of Savills, Glasgow.
Tel: 0141 222 5875 or email aperratt@savills.com