Why am I starting here? Because this is where here is for all of us. The knowledge that, as 2026 begins, anything can and might happen. That in looking for a home, we're looking for a place of safety, to escape to, to hunker down in, a place to be.
That in mind, I'm going to kick off this new year by offering you a remote castle to escape to.
Kinloch Castle is on the inner Hebridean Isle of Rùm, reached by ferry from Mallaig. The castle has 20 family and staff bedrooms, seven grand reception rooms and comes with 18 acres of land. It sits in a beautiful loch side position, surrounded by listed gardens and woodland and backed by the island's hills.
The castle is for sale with its contents, a living record of the travels and tastes of previous owners Sir George and Lady Monica Bulloch. The whole lot - castle, contents and acres of land on the market at very much under a £million.
Obviously there's a catch. Several in fact.
Having had its share of ennobled English owners, the island of Rùm, the castle, its contents and everything else was sold by Lady Monica to the Nature Conservancy Council in 1957, to be used as a national nature reserve.
Parts of the island are now community owned and run, and NatureScot runs the rest.
That community link is important. Despite the island only having 30 or so permanent inhabitants, whoever buys Kinloch Castle will need their support and will need to produce a statement of how their plans for the castle will support the island's nature, economy sustainability and culture.
The island's nature reserve status is both wonderful and limiting - the island is (largely) car-free for example. Materials and trades will need to be brought to the island and that will add to the cost of renovation. The estate agent's blurb estimates around £10m to bring Kinloch back to glory.
But what a glorious thing that would be. Have I mentioned yet that it has a ballroom? With sprung floor, hidden drinks store and a mechanical orchestra!! Honestly, who needs a $400m Mar-a-Lago knockoff with secret data overlords' bunker when you can have this thing of beauty and wonder:
Some work has been done by various quangos to maintain if not restore the castle, but clearly a great deal more needs to be done. I found this helpful video from a chap called Harry, which explains why the sale price of the castle is so low and that renovation estimate so high.
Kinloch Castle and all its parts is on the market at offers over £750k, through Savills. Lots more details and pictures on the agent's website, here.
