Looking up?
So, on Wednesday we left Gail's mum's in Old Kilpatrick and whizzed up the A82 towards Ardnamurchan. A mere two and a quarter hours later - including a stop at the Green Welly Shop in Tyndrum for coffee and a scone - we were at the Corran Ferry.
25 minutes later we hit Strontian, where we were to go an see the local shopowner. He'd invited us to come and view his property "which is just about to go on the market but I wanted to let you see it first..." So see it we did. It wasn't exactly your idyllic, rural Highland hideaway, but it could be a start. Certainly at the price it would be a great stopgap until we get ourselves settled and maybe, somewhere down the line, think about that self-build project...
The cottage was basic but pretty big, with scope to convert the fairly cavernous loft into another room. There's a tiny kitchen, which would once have been referred to as more of a kitchenette, but with estate agents being what they are it's probably now a "compact and functional food preparation area."
Pros: cheap, structurally sound, early move-in date, huge potential, central for all the peninsula's schools.
Cons: needs double glazing, newer heating and it's not quite what we had in mind.
Onwards, then, to Acharacle to have a look at a house & nursery (as in garden nursery) combination - though to be fair the nursery was just the remnants of what could once have been a great idea - 3 dilapidated poly-tunnel frames and a potting shed were pretty much all that remained.
It was in a stunning, hillside location overlooking Loch Sunart and the view alone would be worth the price. The house itself, however, was a different matter - first impressions were okay but on closer inspection there were a lot of bodges here and there and it was clear there was some work to be done. At offers over 95k for the house & nursery (and there'd be little point in taking on the house without the nursery) it's going to go for somewhere in the hundred and twenty grand region - well outwith our budget.
The frustrating thing is that areas like this, where teachers are needed, simply don't have the infrastructure to cope with such housing issues and if they aren't able to attract new people to (a) live there and (b) work there, then they will die out...which is hardly a very sustainable way to go about things. Thought, to be fair, this is worthy of a whole blog on its own...
Next stop - Kilchoan. Having holidayed here we're more than aware of how lovely it is and, potentially, what a great place it could be to live. However, as it's a 45 minute drive just from Salen, you're then looking at Kilchoan to Achaphubuil being about an hour and a quarter to an hour and a half - hardly ideal. Kilchoan's very magic is in its location - right at the edge and out of the way, which makes it perfect for a holiday but not for commuting...though if the job at Kilchoan ever came up...
We looked anyway at the "project" - at offers over 70k, any project was always going to have to be cheap but this would have needed upwards of fifty grand spent on it. There was wet rot, dry rot, no kitchen or bathroom and no heating either. It could - and no doubt will - be stunning. As with Acharacle the views are breathtaking but it needs lots of money and time spent on it as well as someone who alreay has a house nearby taking it on, so there'd be somewhere to live whilst work was done. Oh well.
After the disappointment of this house, we went - as arranged - to see the Laird of the Ardnamurchan Estate (you'll recall that a relative knows someone, who knows someone) but he wasn't in. His secretary allowed us to go and have a look at one of the potential lets. Although there's no garden, there are acres of fields round about and the house itself is lovely - if slightly hard (we suspect) to make one's own. I don't imagine we'd be allowed to do much with it and, being a holiday let, there's not much by way of storage space for all our junk. We'll need to do a bit more thinking on this one, and we still don't know what we'd be charged for it.
Drove home feeling slightly more positive but with an overwhelming feeling of stress and nausea. No doubt partly induced by the knowledge that in the morning I have to hand in my notice.
25 minutes later we hit Strontian, where we were to go an see the local shopowner. He'd invited us to come and view his property "which is just about to go on the market but I wanted to let you see it first..." So see it we did. It wasn't exactly your idyllic, rural Highland hideaway, but it could be a start. Certainly at the price it would be a great stopgap until we get ourselves settled and maybe, somewhere down the line, think about that self-build project...
The cottage was basic but pretty big, with scope to convert the fairly cavernous loft into another room. There's a tiny kitchen, which would once have been referred to as more of a kitchenette, but with estate agents being what they are it's probably now a "compact and functional food preparation area."
Pros: cheap, structurally sound, early move-in date, huge potential, central for all the peninsula's schools.
Cons: needs double glazing, newer heating and it's not quite what we had in mind.
Onwards, then, to Acharacle to have a look at a house & nursery (as in garden nursery) combination - though to be fair the nursery was just the remnants of what could once have been a great idea - 3 dilapidated poly-tunnel frames and a potting shed were pretty much all that remained.
It was in a stunning, hillside location overlooking Loch Sunart and the view alone would be worth the price. The house itself, however, was a different matter - first impressions were okay but on closer inspection there were a lot of bodges here and there and it was clear there was some work to be done. At offers over 95k for the house & nursery (and there'd be little point in taking on the house without the nursery) it's going to go for somewhere in the hundred and twenty grand region - well outwith our budget.
The frustrating thing is that areas like this, where teachers are needed, simply don't have the infrastructure to cope with such housing issues and if they aren't able to attract new people to (a) live there and (b) work there, then they will die out...which is hardly a very sustainable way to go about things. Thought, to be fair, this is worthy of a whole blog on its own...
Next stop - Kilchoan. Having holidayed here we're more than aware of how lovely it is and, potentially, what a great place it could be to live. However, as it's a 45 minute drive just from Salen, you're then looking at Kilchoan to Achaphubuil being about an hour and a quarter to an hour and a half - hardly ideal. Kilchoan's very magic is in its location - right at the edge and out of the way, which makes it perfect for a holiday but not for commuting...though if the job at Kilchoan ever came up...
We looked anyway at the "project" - at offers over 70k, any project was always going to have to be cheap but this would have needed upwards of fifty grand spent on it. There was wet rot, dry rot, no kitchen or bathroom and no heating either. It could - and no doubt will - be stunning. As with Acharacle the views are breathtaking but it needs lots of money and time spent on it as well as someone who alreay has a house nearby taking it on, so there'd be somewhere to live whilst work was done. Oh well.
After the disappointment of this house, we went - as arranged - to see the Laird of the Ardnamurchan Estate (you'll recall that a relative knows someone, who knows someone) but he wasn't in. His secretary allowed us to go and have a look at one of the potential lets. Although there's no garden, there are acres of fields round about and the house itself is lovely - if slightly hard (we suspect) to make one's own. I don't imagine we'd be allowed to do much with it and, being a holiday let, there's not much by way of storage space for all our junk. We'll need to do a bit more thinking on this one, and we still don't know what we'd be charged for it.
Drove home feeling slightly more positive but with an overwhelming feeling of stress and nausea. No doubt partly induced by the knowledge that in the morning I have to hand in my notice.
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