Refurbishing? It’s child’s play

Writer turns old play den into holiday hideaway

FREELANCE

copywriter Molly Rowan Hamilton spends her life in a spin.

Having a job that can take her anywhere in the world at a moment’s notice made it difficult for her to commit to buying a property.

Molly, who also spends a lot of time in London, had thought about buying a home in the city. But after being offered work in Australia she decided the cost would be an expense too far.

She was looking for an investment that would more than wash its face. So she set her financial sights on the former laundry where she had played as a child on her family’s farm near Crieff.

The riverside haven needed complete refurbishment but the savvy wordsmith was undaunted. She knew everything would come out in the wash.

Molly says: “There are a number of tumbledown outbuildings on the farm which are a lot of work for my parents to keep up. So I ended up buying the Laundry Cottage from them.”

The building – which until the 1960s had accommodated a laundry serving the farm and the wider area – was a wreck. Its riverside setting meant it suffered from damp. Wooden joists were completely rotten and needed replacing and there were two huge vats for boiling hot water for the laundry that needed to be removed.

Molly enlisted the services of a project manager, an employee on the family farm, and brought in tradesmen to transform her former playhouse.

Flood-proofing was the main challenge. The River Pow, which runs beside the cottage, rose up to the balcony on one occasion and a burst pipe also caused problems, so Molly decided to replace the wooden floor with slate.

When remedial works were

complete she