Scottish mansion with a twist in the tale


Let's go large.
This property was tweeted to me eons ago (weeks at least) by the agent and, having initially ignored it because it's a bit big and a bit pricey for my usual 'Wreck' pick, I seemed to just keep on drifting back to it.
I think it's this picture - the little boy tumbling over the chair in the jumbly room - I just saw my own family running through its 69 rooms:


Actually 22 of those rooms are in the basement, so we'll ignore them for now and focus on the 40-ish in the ground and first floor. Which includes 10 bedrooms, 1 bathroom, a shedload of dressing rooms and walk-in stores, a library, formal dining room, kitchen, reception rooms - and a separate six-bedroom apartment.
Phew! is the word.


Grade B listed Drumcharry House is positively oozing with original features, including marble fireplaces, stained glass windows and a turret.


I want the stag's head to stay.
It's on the market at £650k, which seems pretty reasonable for a Scottish mansion with two-and-a-half acres and a whole lot of history.

Then
Now
Google, sorry Alphabet, view
So, what's the catch?
The house needs work, lots of work - that's clear from the photos. But what else?
I wondered whether there was something in it being sold as a commercial property. The agent's details mention it having been a guesthouse but it doesn't look like it's housed paying guests for a long time and I couldn't find any records related to its conversion from residential to commercial use.
The only planning application I could find was a request to put up signposts back in 1989 (refused).
And then I found it (I'm a persistent little bugger...)

Garth House Memorial Youth Hostel, 1975
Back in the 70s it was a youth hostel, having been donated to the Scottish Youth Hostel movement by the mum of Lieutenant Ian Mackenzie-Anderson, who died when his submarine was sunk by enemy action on June 13, 1940.
The SYH then sold it in 1982, for just £18k, having been outfaced by its dry rot issues. (Anyone else thinking there's an RBS analogy here?)
More digging and I found it on an archived hotel listing. It sounded nice. Three-stars.
Anyway, whatever the history missing from the agent's details, this is a gorgeous Scottish country mansion that deserves to have a family loving living in it.
But which may still have dry rot.
For sale through Real Simple Estates. Details and more photos here and here.

Popular posts from this blog

Railway carriages for sale

Closed churches for sale, England

Former country pubs for sale