A couple of Scottish cheap-as-chips and renovation-ripe picks for you today. Plus one that I can't quite make my mind up about.
First, this absolutely gorgeous little church with views of Loch Long, on the Cowal Peninsula, from its doors.
One of Church of Scotland's current redundant property offerings, the Grade C-listed church is on the market at offers around £30k.
That's right, offers around £30k. A bargain for a pretty building in a stunning location - the Highlands village of Ardentinny with its beach and loch-side location, around 14 miles from Dunoon.
Ardentinny Church is basically one big room, with the porch at one end and small kitchen and loo at the other, within a small garden area.
Not much space but services are attached and masses of potential.
Details here and pdf with more pictures here.
Rather ambitiously called "The Cottage", my next pick is a few miles from Hawick, in the Scottish Borders.
Definitely a wreck, but in another lovely location. It's in the hamlet of Branxholm Town and one of a handful of farmworker cottages.
Two bedrooms, living room and kitchen (add -ish to all of those words...), the property comes with just under two acres of land including garden and paddock areas.
Lots of work clearly, but the building's shape and those original windows are really appealing. And I love the colour scheme ; )
On the "can't make my mind" up list is this 500-year-old farmhouse, set in countryside about 14 miles from Inverness. It may just be the uninspiring photos, or the amount of junk that needs clearing away, but I really couldn't decide whether I liked this one or not.
On the upside, nice location, imposing building and lots of space (four bedrooms and bathroom upstairs, four reception rooms and kitchen downstairs).
On the downside, lots of work including dealing with the render and guttering and the ugly extensions.
And am I the only person who has always found Zippy scary?
Finally, thank you to Caroline for replying to the query from reader Jill about insuring her renovation project. Caroline, a regular renovator and property blogger herself with one Scottish project finished and one (or two...) underway, emailed this advice:
With six acres, [Jill] might well be able to get it covered under a smallholder policy, which will cover buildings and outbuildings as well as all her field boundaries and public liability insurance to cover anyone wandering onto her land. This is what we did with Ethel's and it worked pretty well. We went through Farmers & Mercantile https://www.fandmgroup.co.uk/ and still have the land and outbuildings insured with them, though the house subsequently moved onto a specialist holiday let policy with someone else.
