Home’s hidden whisky galore?
House with a role in remake of classic movie may still hold smugglers’ loot in unexplored secret tunnels
IF your house appears as the star of a muchanticipated motion picture, then what becomes of you? Does your head get too big for its boots room? Do you begin admiring your reflection in your windows?
Sandra Scrudis managed to keep both feet on the ground, even though she and her husband John were given the red carpet treatment at the premiere of Whisky Galore! at the Edinburgh International Film Festival.
The remake of the Scottish classic features the harbour area of Portsoy, near Banff, Aberdeenshire. Bang in the middle of many scenes is Mrs Scrudis’s A-listed Old Merchant House, built in 1726, which was effortlessly sprinkled with movie dust to look as if it belonged in the 1940s.
Muslin drapes were used in her windows; her front doors were re-painted to reflect wartime austerity and retro vehicles were parked out front. Sorted.
‘It was very exciting,’ beamed Mrs Scrudis. ‘They filmed all along the harbour and used locals as extras.
‘Being the owners of the house, we were allowed to go right down to the set to watch them filming.
‘It sounds very glamorous but I do remember a lot of coffee cups being left lying around. And I did notice Gregor Fisher was a visitor to the local ice cream shop on a regular basis.’
Fisher, of course, is one of the big names from the film, due to arrive in cinemas in February. His nemesis is played by Eddie Izzard, the bumbling Home Guard commander, Captain Waggett.
It is Waggett’s job to track down 50,000 cases of whisky ‘liberated’ from the wreck of a ship which had been heading for America during rationing in the Second World War.
Mrs Scrudis added: ‘Eddie Izzard was a lovely guy. He did a concert in a local school hall and all the proceeds went to local charities. The Scouts got money to help refurbish their hall. It was incredible to see this guy in a village hall, when he usually packs out the O2 Arena in London.’
It’s rather ironic that the film-makers chose
the Old Merchant House as the back-drop to a movie about smuggling. They probably didn’t know about Alexander ‘laird’ Brebner, an 18th century bootlegger who hid his contraband in tunnels beneath the house.
Brebner was a local smuggler and merchant, whose eight ships would travel the world in pursuit of booty – from brandy and tobacco to expensive silks and China – he would sell to local gentry.
PORTSOY at that time was a hub of trading activity. Its famous local marble was used to construct the fireplaces of Louis XIV’s Palace of Versailles. The Old Merchant House may have changed little externally since those times, but the interior has been transformed. The current layout reflects its use as a holiday let but the scale of the property is such that it could be used as one dwelling or further divided to provide two holiday cottages.
The prospect of further development is provided by a recently-constructed stone staircase all the way from the ground floor to the top of the building.
On the first floor, the lounge is dominated by an impressive 18th century fireplace. The three bedrooms are located on the house’s second floor, along with the bathroom and utility room.
The floored loft room is crying out to be exploited, perhaps as an extensive home office, games room or further self-contained accommodation.
The property has been reduced in price to offers over £275,000 – which surely represents something of a bargain.
And with all those unexplored tunnels beneath the house, who knows what bounty awaits below? There may even be whisky galore...
For further details, contact McEwan Fraser Legal on 0131 5249797, or email: enquiries@mcewanfraserlegal.co.uk