I was thinking how, since we moved, walking the dog in a morning feels magisterial, church-like. Waking-up worries banished by big, bold skies and the peace of a long and dewy pathway.
I find myself standing still a lot; breathing, soaring.
And yes, I know that sounds a bit moonage woo-woo, but I don't think I'd ever spent so much time looking up at the sky until we moved to an edge of the world.
Here's this morning's soul cathedral.
I think that's also one of the reasons we like to look at wrecks - that promise of an affordable view. Like the two I've picked to show you today. Obviously there are reality bites bits - damaged roof, residence restriction, etc. but it's the skybathing potential I'm focusing on today.
Capel Pen y Meini (top and below) is a converted chapel in a Welsh valley with big views of rolling hills behind and to the sides. Fabulous dark skies with whisky potential.
Access is ok - on a narrow road leading to a handful of other houses and farms, with parking for a couple of cars or vans, and a deck at the back overlooking a brook, open fields and those hills.
It's not a wreck but it is fairly basic - Gen Z holiday cottage vibes. And it has to be used as a second home, with a maximum residency of 11 months in 12. Which is pretty generous tbf; easily live-in-able for most of the year with a month spent with parents or travelling...?
One, open-plan space with a bedroom squished into the mezzanine and a curtained-off bathroom area with separate loo and shower. Heating and cooking from the Rayburn.
It's all been nicely done but definitely escape pod rather than cozy Winter comfort. I think I'd want to investigate whether planning would let you replace that wooden shed at the back with a stone extension and put the bathroom in there, so you could move the kitchen and maybe create a downstairs bedroom.
Anyway, worth a punt on the price, perhaps? It's been on the market most of this year and was reduced by £10k to £150k last month.
On the market through RG Jones, details on the agent's site here and on Rightmove here.
My next property is a four-bedroom detached house overlooking with sea views for £85k. Yes, you read that correctly - £85k.
Which is your warning that the real cost of the property will be in the extensive works that need doing.
Suil-na-Mara is on the Hebridean island of Scalpey, off Harris, and the house overlooks the sea loch separating the islands.
It used to be run as a B&B and does feel like it stopped, dead in its B&B heyday - candlewick bedspreads, decorative spinning wheel, fluffy toilet seat covers.
I hope the bedspread owner had already moved on before this happened:
Good size lounge, dining room, kitchen, bathroom and bedroom downstairs; three bedrooms and loo upstairs.
There's (formerly) well-gardened land around it but you'll need to give up some of that to create proper parking - the house sits on a main road and I don't know what happened to the garage shown on Google maps. Anyway, this is your big sky view across that road.
On the market at offers over £85k via Derek Mackenzie Solicitors. More pictures on the agent's site here and on Rightmove here.
