Time to bag a pad with a clock?
THIS WEEK: Homes with clocks, including this striking Scottish pad
YOU should never waste a second in your dream property – especially when you have a timepiece built into its very fabric. The reason clock towers were built, especially in rural areas, is pretty straightforward.
Before the middle of the 20th Century, most people did not have watches – and a century before that, clocks in houses were also uncommon.
A clock linked to bells could call employees to work or prayer, ensuring the tasks of the day could be performed at the right time.
Bellspool Coach House, near Peebles, boasts such a clock tower.
It was built as stables and carriage quarters for Dawyck House around 1863, and would have been a hub of activity for grooms and footmen, ensuring equine transportation was at hand at all times.
The clock remained after the building was transformed in 1909 to accommodate the advent of the motor car – and was kept even after the property was converted for use as a house in 1998.
The clock face sets off the building’s facade and sits atop an impressive red brick arch beneath which horses would have clip-clopped.
The estate agents are embracing the area’s connections with King Arthur and Camelot to help sell the property.
The area has links to Arthurian legend and the Merlin Trail – a route through southern Scotland which highlights the real story behind the wizard – passes the entrance to Bellspool.
The area also boasts a connection to that master of adventure John Buchan, author of The Thirty-Nine Steps, whose parents had grown up in nearby Tweeddale.
Buchan returned to the area for family holidays as a boy, harvesting ideas from the countryside.
But what of Bellspool itself? The current owners have upgraded the property into a beautiful and versatile five-bedroom family home.
The welcoming reception hall exploits the dimensions of the arch, with sandstone lintels above the doors and industrial-style red brick lining the walls.
The conversion into individual rooms has been carried out so expertly that it is hard to tell this property was not originally designed for residential use.
Only the bare stone floor in the pretty kitchen gives any hint of an agricultural past.
The dining room has Cole and Son wallpaper from an authentic Victorian design, while an original stable post and tie are set into the wall.
A dining room gong was once used as an alternative to that clock to advise you of one important thing – time for tea.