Jumbly gems from Scotland's less popular coast

Some years ago, hubby, hounds and I were on our way to the Isle of Mull for a much-needed holiday. We were big fans of the Scottish island, having married there (here) and returned often. This particular trip however was a bit of bust.
God-awful weather meant ferries stayed safely in ports and we spent three days arguing in the carpark at Oban over whether to wait or go, as our precious holiday days ticked away.
After one particularly blistering row that saw me storm off into the wind and rain and return to the car  dripping-wet and weepy, we set off driving.
And drove and drove, through gales that knocked down power lines as we passed, snow storms that hid roads from us. Passing sea and lochs and mountains, all the way to Ullapool. One night hunkered down in a cottage that had lost its power. Another in a lodge where we temporarily lost a dog to the forest.
We've all had holidays like this; endurance tests that morph over the remembering into fondness.
Anyway, where I'm going with this is that what we took away from that experience was a real appreciation for the overlooked Northwest of Scotland - Oban to Ullapool.
We hadn't planned to holiday there, not as obviously pretty as the islands we normally chose, more working, less tourism. But ruggedly wild, sometimes rundown, frequently beautiful. 
So I'm taking you there this week with two house picks for fellow explorers.
This four-bedroom, two-bathroom detached house on the shores of Loch Etive, is about eight miles from Oban. It needs work (including a new roof) but its location - loch-side but on the coast road, is quite gorgeous. That picture at the top of this post sums it up.

There's an integrated garage leading off the road and off-road parking. The property, all one level, has a large living room and kitchen, another reception room, three good-size bedrooms overlooking the loch and a smaller bedroom facing the road.

To be fair, the rooms are a bit of a jumble of spaces and hallways and having your bedrooms rather than living areas face the views seems daft - you'll want to change that.
On the market through Bell Ingram with a guide price of £260k. Details, video and more pictures on the agent's site here and on Rightmove here. 
My second pick is much further up that north western coast, at Achiltibuie, around 15miles on from Ullapool, looking over Loch Broom towards the Summer Isles.
A similarly large and jumbly-roomed house, this one is split into two, with a three bedroom main house and attached one-bedroom annex. Before I get onto that complexity, here's some pictures.

So, we have the main house with that extraordinary sunroom off the living room. A large-ish kitchen, a bedroom and shower room downstairs, and two bedrooms and a bathroom upstairs. The separate annex (the attached cottage in the picture below) has a living room, bedroom, shower room, and narrow and damp galley kitchen downstairs, plus a large loft. 

I like that its owner was crafty - all that varnished wood, all those painted seascapes; someone enjoyed their life here. Not sure I'd keep any of it though...
Clearly a lot of work to do in stripping back, changing configurations and turning this into a living, breathing eco-house, but the under £200k price tag will help.
What it offers in return is a house plus holiday let (or multi-family) in a wildly lovely hidden corner of Scotland.
On the market at offers over £170k through Bell Ingram. Details, video and lots more pictures on the agent's site here and on Rightmove here.
Here's Robin Wallace, to take us on a breezy hike around the area.

 

Homes under £100k, two churches and a prefab

So here's part two of my promised search for cheaper, but still gorgeous, wrecks to show you. And I have three unusual properties for you today, all on the market at under £100k.
Starting with this sweet Welsh chapel (below) in Carmarthenshire at £80k. Now the pictures aren't the best but then what you have here is a building in transition. From this:

To this:

And via all of this:

On the plus side, you have an unlisted chapel without graves (or indeed bats) to worry about and in which big jobs - new rafters and roof, mezzanine, underground pipes for services have been done, and it's sitting on a good size plot.
On the less-plus side, it's being sold without planning permission for residential (or any other) use, and something clearly put off or stopped the owner from finishing the job.
The building consists of a large porch with original tiled floor and the main hall of the chapel with new mezzanine level. Outside is the gated frontage with the garden/drive, and a large garden to the rear, including brick outbuildings (presumably one was the loo?) and backing onto the stream that runs through the village of Llandybie.

On the market at offers over £80k via John Francis. More details and pictures on the agent's site here and on Rightmove here.

My next property to show you is also a church - this time in Scotland, and with planning permission already in place to convert it into a three-bedroom home.
B-listed Glassary Church is in a very, very beautiful location.

  
At the edge of the village of Kilmichael, in Argyle. A handful of houses and a primary school in front of you, hills and fields and openness behind.
Lots of original features inside but also the essentials - mains electricity, well looked after. And the already approved plans are actually pretty good and allow for the public bits of the project.

Which is that the graveyard is owned by the council and stays open to the public (a plot at the rear would be yours as separate garden, parking and garage), and the church's war memorial board would be moved to a separate lobby so it can still be accessed.
Also, there's no mains water or drainage as yet and you would need to negotiate and pay for both to be run through the graveyard.
On the market at the (recently reduced) fixed price of £65k through Bell Ingram. Details, plans and more pictures on the agent's website here and on Rightmove here.

My final pick for this week is very, very different. A prefab bungalow in the North Yorkshire village of Norton, a suburb of the pricey and popular Malton.

I have a real affection for prefabs. Growing up in Hull, visiting friends' grannies in their post-war prefabs. Buildings meant to last a decade or two but still being lived in and loved in the 90s, when I worked at the Hull Daily Mail and we covered the pain of families as their prefabs were demolished.

The prefabs themselves incidentally were fast builds but not cheap builds, each one costing around £1100 - more than the cost of a bricks and mortar house. No wonder they lasted so well.
Anyway, back to our North Yorkshire prefab.
All one level. Two bedrooms, large living/dining room, kitchen, slightly damp-looking bathroom, hallway. And sitting in a big garden - albeit with no car access.

It's one of just four remaining prefabs sitting on the prettily-named Plum Street, a cul-de-sac off Norton main street. The four share an access path.
But it's the inside that appeals to me. That was was one colour-confident lady who lived here! And the neat-as-a-pin interior reminds me so much of all those grannies of friends prefabs I loved in Hull. 

The Plum Street prefab is on the market at £97,500 via Mark Stephensons. Details and more pictures on the agent's site here and on Rightmove here.

Two detached cottages to renovate, under £200k

I'm aware my property picks have been on the pricier side of late. Last week's, for example, breached £300k, while the week before included a seaside wreck at a chunky £650k. 
I've been bothered by that, particularly given the looming cost-of-Trump crisis, so I spent most of today hunting for interesting properties to renovate under £200k - under £100k when I could find them. I've got two to show you today and another batch to follow next week.
I'll be honest, today's two are proper wrecks, which is why they both offer so much for so (relatively) little. Both are detached country homes with large plots of land and fabulous views. One even has a Blue Plaque marking its historical importance.
And both will need rather more than some tins of Farrow & Ball and a nice rug... 
Here's my first pick. A Grade II-listed, traditional farmhouse in Garsdale, in the Yorkshire Dales National Park. Sitting just back from the A684, your nearest town is Sedburgh and your nearest neighbour that stone barn (owned by the vendor).

You have a beck running through part of your garden land, but no water or services to the building itself (it did have electricity for a while).
Downstairs is a large kitchen, living room, plus a walk-in pantry and laundry room and side porch. Upstairs are three bedrooms, two a good size one very small, and what was the bathroom.
Obviously I'm using room names here that are only notionally applicable.

There is clearly a LOT of work to do (the estate agent euphemistically describes it as "untouched"), and you should pay for your own full structural survey (Level 3) to have a better idea of the risks.
But, oh my Lord, the views on Streetview are just breathtaking.
On the market through Armistead Barnett at offers around £180k. Details, more pictures and video on the agent's site here and on Rightmove here.
My second pick this week is in Wales and had been owned from 1952 to 1964 by Eileen and Trefor Beasley, warriors for the Welsh language, earning their home a Blue Plaque.

Eileen was teacher and Trefor a miner when they began their campaign, refusing to pay their rates for eight years until the council sent them forms in Welsh. They were taken to court 16 times, had the bailiffs at their door four times, and Trefor even spent a week in prison. But they stood their ground and won - Llanelli Council sending them a bilingual rate demand in 1960.
As I said, warriors.

The two-bedroom detached cottage is in the small village of Llangennach, down its own lane and surrounded by its large and overgrown gardens.
Downstairs is a good-size living room, kitchen, and a narrow sitting room, with quarry tile floors. Upstairs two bedrooms and a bathroom. Lots of beams and cute original features.

There are radiators in most rooms and services connected, but none of it has been used for a while and, while it may be less of a wreck than the Garsdale house, there are clearly issues - starting with a roof that will need looking at.
On the market through Morgan Carpenter with a guide price of £140k. Details and more pictures on the agent's site here and on Rightmove here.
I'm going to finish with Eileen and Trefor telling their story - in Welsh of course, from their then very cosy living room with its beautifully full Welsh dresser. Tan tro nesa!