Here are a series of news articles detailing castles for sale in Scotland
Monarch of the Glen’ foreigners queue up to buy a Scottish castle
By Derek Watson
9 March 2009
The Daily Express
The credit crunch has led to a surge in foreign buyers wanting to snap up Scottish castles. A weak pound and an increasing number of historic properties and estates on the market has sparked a rush in overseas interest.
Fifteen castles and three sporting estates are up for sale, with potential European and US buyers hoping to become monarchs of the glen. Castles range from £150,000 for Westhall Castle in Aberdeenshire to those selling for millions of pounds. Last week the 5,000-acre Dalchully Estate, near Laggan, Inverness-shire – the Highland retreat of Xavier-Louis Vuitton, heir to the world-famous fashion dynasty – went on sale for more than £4.25million.
John Lambert, of Edinburgh-based chartered surveyor John Clegg and Co, said: “Prices for castles and estates have come down a bit but invariably if they are well looked after they will hold their value well. “There’s been a lot of interest from Europe because of the strength of the euro against the pound.”
Agents CKD Galbraith said there is little evidence that sporting estates and castles have lost any significant value in the current climate. The company’s John Robin Bound said: “We recently sold Balfour Castle off Orkney, one of the most northerly castles in the world. It sold for more than £2.7million and it wasn’t on the market for long.”
Skelmorlie Castle in Ayrshire, which comes with 27 and a half acres of land and a picturesque view of the Isle of Arran, is on sale for offers of more than £1.95million, while Barcaldine Castle in Oban has just gone on the market for offers over £1.35million. Last month a Highland castle that featured in a BBC reality show went back on the market for £800,000. Duncraig Castle, near Plockton, Wester Ross, was bought by 17 members of the Midlands-based Dobson family in 2002. The family featured in BBC show The Dobsons Of Duncraig but now only Sam, 43, his wife, Perlin, 46, and their two children live there. Mrs Dobson yesterday said a series of fueds with other family members had transformed their rural dream into a nightmare. She said: “It was like living like a student. There were a lot of day-today niggles.”
Raid the market now and win a great deal on your own castle
By Heather Rose
6 March 2009
The Daily Express
NO MATTER how small our home is, most of us like to think of it as our castle. However, for some sharp-eyed house hunters, the dream of being at home in a real-life castle could soon come true.
There is an array of castles currently for sale in Scotland, ranging in size from palatial to modest, in condition from luxurious splendour to requiring significant work, and in price from the multi-million-pound bracket to comparatively affordable.
One of the most outstanding is Midmar Castle in Aberdeenshire, one of the fi ve principal castles of Mar and the only one which is in private ownership. This A-listed, 16th-century castle, which sits in 185 acres, is on the market through property consultants Knight Frank with an asking price of £5.5million.
Understood to have been built by Sir William Wallace for Sir Thomas Longavale, its square towers date from 1411 with the main towers added in 1565.
Among the long list of special extras included in the price is a hydro electric plant and the title of Baron of Midmar.
On the other side of the country, Knight Frank are marketing Muckcairn Castle and estate not far from Oban. This £3.5million baronial style castle comes with about 230 acres and includes a tennis court, a boathouse with a jetty and deep water pier, fishing on the Alt Nathias River, three cottages and about 3km of Loch Etive shoreline.
Very different is Westhall Castle at Oyne, 25 miles from Aberdeen. It is selling through the Brechin office of agents Savills and carries a price around the same as that for an upmarket family home in suburbia – offers over £850,000. Believed to date from the 16th century and set in over 54 acres, Westhall has five reception rooms, 15 bedrooms, a walled garden, a courtyard with planning potential, three cottages and paddocks. If all this sounds too good to be true, it is worth noting the fact the castle in need of renovation.
By comparison, Powrie Castle near Dundee has been fully restored. Also being marketed by Savills, Powrie is selling at offers in excess of £650,000. A dream for those seeking an out-of-the ordinary home, it features a kitchen in what was the vaulted bakery, complete with original bread oven.
Head northwards to Banffshire and homehunters could land Fordyce Castle near Portsoy, on sale at offers in excess of £800,000. Modest in size it, too, has been restored, in co-operation with Historic Scotland. As well as a great hall, vaulted dining room, four bedrooms, an attic room and study, there is a two-bedroom wing plus a two-bedroom cottage and a gallery which has two store rooms and a work room.
For those dreaming of a castle lifestyle in central belt commuting country, agents CKD Galbraith in Ayr have recently taken Woodside Castle near Beith on to their books. An A-listed mansion within a 60-acre secluded estate, it dates back to 1551 and was originally a square tower, a section that remains part of the main building. Priced at offers over £1.45million, Woodside has been altered and extended several times over the years. Recently refurbished, accommodation spans five floors, ranging from the vaulted dungeons to the tower bedrooms on the second and third fl oors.
Comparatively modern is Craigrownie Castle at Cove. This B-listed six-storey Scots Baronial-style home, which is selling through Savills at £795,000, dates from 1854 and is the only castle designed by Alexander Greek Thomson.
SCOTS LANDMARKS FLOOD PROPERTY MARKET
ALAN CARSON
9 March 2009
The Sun
AN 88-ROOM castle which played a starring role in a BBC reality show is up for sale. The 17-strong Dobson clan from Nottingham fell in love with Duncraig Castle, in Wester Ross seven years ago.
They quit the rat race to move into the dilapidated 19thcentury pile, which they snapped up for £505,000. But after taking part in fly-on-the-wall doc The Dobsons Of Duncraig in 2004, the family lost heart – and one by one returned to England. Now Sam, 43, and wife Perlin, 46, have put the castle back on the market for offers over £750,000. They’re not the only ones selling up. Some 15 castles and three posh sporting estates are currently up for grabs.
They vary in size and boast price tags ranging from £650,000 to multi-millions.
Spooky BARCALDINE CASTLE in Oban, Argyll, has just gone on the market for offers over £1.35million. The 16th-century pile – believed to be haunted – is said to be the only Scots castle in its original medieval condition. Offering breathtaking views, it has six bedrooms, a vaulted dining room and a Great Hall.
Further east, in Aberdeenshire, quaint FORDYCE CASTLE near Portsoy is on sale at offers over £800,000. Thomas Menzies, former lord provost of Aberdeen, built the pocket-sized castle in 1592. WOODSIDE CASTLE, near Beith, Ayrshire – which dates back to 1551 – has only just come up for grabs. It’s on at offers over £1.45m.
Also in Aberdeenshire, stunning MIDMAR CASTLE is reputed to have been built by Sir William Wallace. The A-listed, 16th-century building is on the market with an asking price of £5.5m. Six-storey CRAIGROWNIE CASTLE at Cove, Helensburgh, won’t leave you much change from £800,000. And there’s SKELMORLIE CASTLE, near Dalry, Ayrshire, at £1.95m. Rundown WESTHALL CASTLE at Oyne, Aberdeenshire, could be yours for offers over £850,000. Or fully-restored POWRIE CASTLE, near Dundee, is on at offers over £650,000. Perched over a dramatic rock outcrop it offers spectacular views over the Firth of Clyde and Loch Long. A cool £4.25m-plus will bag 5,000-acre DALCHULLY ESTATE, near Laggan, Inverness-shire. The Highland retreat of Xavier-Louis Vuitton – heir to the world-famous fashion dynasty – is part of the Ardverikie Estate, where BBC hit Monarch Of The Glen was filmed.
Jamie MacNab, of estate Savills, said: ” We’ve got castles on the market, of which are in the east, which is very rare. We’ve already had a lot of in Barcaldine Castle. People are saying it’s 30 cent cheaper for them to than it was a year ago of the euro strengthening against the pound.”
John Lambert, of Edinburgh chartered surveyors Clegg and Co, added: We’ve had interest from Belgians and French who are attracted they get much better for money.”
Here are a series of news articles detailing castles for sale in Scotland
Monarch of the Glen’ foreigners queue up to buy a Scottish castle
By Derek Watson
9 March 2009
The Daily Express
The credit crunch has led to a surge in foreign buyers wanting to snap up Scottish castles. A weak pound and an increasing number of historic properties and estates on the market has sparked a rush in overseas interest.
Fifteen castles and three sporting estates are up for sale, with potential European and US buyers hoping to become monarchs of the glen. Castles range from £150,000 for Westhall Castle in Aberdeenshire to those selling for millions of pounds. Last week the 5,000-acre Dalchully Estate, near Laggan, Inverness-shire – the Highland retreat of Xavier-Louis Vuitton, heir to the world-famous fashion dynasty – went on sale for more than £4.25million.
John Lambert, of Edinburgh-based chartered surveyor John Clegg and Co, said: “Prices for castles and estates have come down a bit but invariably if they are well looked after they will hold their value well. “There’s been a lot of interest from Europe because of the strength of the euro against the pound.”
Agents CKD Galbraith said there is little evidence that sporting estates and castles have lost any significant value in the current climate. The company’s John Robin Bound said: “We recently sold Balfour Castle off Orkney, one of the most northerly castles in the world. It sold for more than £2.7million and it wasn’t on the market for long.”
Skelmorlie Castle in Ayrshire, which comes with 27 and a half acres of land and a picturesque view of the Isle of Arran, is on sale for offers of more than £1.95million, while Barcaldine Castle in Oban has just gone on the market for offers over £1.35million. Last month a Highland castle that featured in a BBC reality show went back on the market for £800,000. Duncraig Castle, near Plockton, Wester Ross, was bought by 17 members of the Midlands-based Dobson family in 2002. The family featured in BBC show The Dobsons Of Duncraig but now only Sam, 43, his wife, Perlin, 46, and their two children live there. Mrs Dobson yesterday said a series of fueds with other family members had transformed their rural dream into a nightmare. She said: “It was like living like a student. There were a lot of day-today niggles.”
Raid the market now and win a great deal on your own castle
By Heather Rose
6 March 2009
The Daily Express
NO MATTER how small our home is, most of us like to think of it as our castle. However, for some sharp-eyed house hunters, the dream of being at home in a real-life castle could soon come true.
There is an array of castles currently for sale in Scotland, ranging in size from palatial to modest, in condition from luxurious splendour to requiring significant work, and in price from the multi-million-pound bracket to comparatively affordable.
One of the most outstanding is Midmar Castle in Aberdeenshire, one of the fi ve principal castles of Mar and the only one which is in private ownership. This A-listed, 16th-century castle, which sits in 185 acres, is on the market through property consultants Knight Frank with an asking price of £5.5million.
Understood to have been built by Sir William Wallace for Sir Thomas Longavale, its square towers date from 1411 with the main towers added in 1565.
Among the long list of special extras included in the price is a hydro electric plant and the title of Baron of Midmar.
On the other side of the country, Knight Frank are marketing Muckcairn Castle and estate not far from Oban. This £3.5million baronial style castle comes with about 230 acres and includes a tennis court, a boathouse with a jetty and deep water pier, fishing on the Alt Nathias River, three cottages and about 3km of Loch Etive shoreline.
Very different is Westhall Castle at Oyne, 25 miles from Aberdeen. It is selling through the Brechin office of agents Savills and carries a price around the same as that for an upmarket family home in suburbia – offers over £850,000. Believed to date from the 16th century and set in over 54 acres, Westhall has five reception rooms, 15 bedrooms, a walled garden, a courtyard with planning potential, three cottages and paddocks. If all this sounds too good to be true, it is worth noting the fact the castle in need of renovation.
By comparison, Powrie Castle near Dundee has been fully restored. Also being marketed by Savills, Powrie is selling at offers in excess of £650,000. A dream for those seeking an out-of-the ordinary home, it features a kitchen in what was the vaulted bakery, complete with original bread oven.
Head northwards to Banffshire and homehunters could land Fordyce Castle near Portsoy, on sale at offers in excess of £800,000. Modest in size it, too, has been restored, in co-operation with Historic Scotland. As well as a great hall, vaulted dining room, four bedrooms, an attic room and study, there is a two-bedroom wing plus a two-bedroom cottage and a gallery which has two store rooms and a work room.
For those dreaming of a castle lifestyle in central belt commuting country, agents CKD Galbraith in Ayr have recently taken Woodside Castle near Beith on to their books. An A-listed mansion within a 60-acre secluded estate, it dates back to 1551 and was originally a square tower, a section that remains part of the main building. Priced at offers over £1.45million, Woodside has been altered and extended several times over the years. Recently refurbished, accommodation spans five floors, ranging from the vaulted dungeons to the tower bedrooms on the second and third fl oors.
Comparatively modern is Craigrownie Castle at Cove. This B-listed six-storey Scots Baronial-style home, which is selling through Savills at £795,000, dates from 1854 and is the only castle designed by Alexander Greek Thomson.
SCOTS LANDMARKS FLOOD PROPERTY MARKET
ALAN CARSON
9 March 2009
The Sun
AN 88-ROOM castle which played a starring role in a BBC reality show is up for sale. The 17-strong Dobson clan from Nottingham fell in love with Duncraig Castle, in Wester Ross seven years ago.
They quit the rat race to move into the dilapidated 19thcentury pile, which they snapped up for £505,000. But after taking part in fly-on-the-wall doc The Dobsons Of Duncraig in 2004, the family lost heart – and one by one returned to England. Now Sam, 43, and wife Perlin, 46, have put the castle back on the market for offers over £750,000. They’re not the only ones selling up. Some 15 castles and three posh sporting estates are currently up for grabs.
They vary in size and boast price tags ranging from £650,000 to multi-millions.
Spooky BARCALDINE CASTLE in Oban, Argyll, has just gone on the market for offers over £1.35million. The 16th-century pile – believed to be haunted – is said to be the only Scots castle in its original medieval condition. Offering breathtaking views, it has six bedrooms, a vaulted dining room and a Great Hall.
Further east, in Aberdeenshire, quaint FORDYCE CASTLE near Portsoy is on sale at offers over £800,000. Thomas Menzies, former lord provost of Aberdeen, built the pocket-sized castle in 1592. WOODSIDE CASTLE, near Beith, Ayrshire – which dates back to 1551 – has only just come up for grabs. It’s on at offers over £1.45m.
Also in Aberdeenshire, stunning MIDMAR CASTLE is reputed to have been built by Sir William Wallace. The A-listed, 16th-century building is on the market with an asking price of £5.5m. Six-storey CRAIGROWNIE CASTLE at Cove, Helensburgh, won’t leave you much change from £800,000. And there’s SKELMORLIE CASTLE, near Dalry, Ayrshire, at £1.95m. Rundown WESTHALL CASTLE at Oyne, Aberdeenshire, could be yours for offers over £850,000. Or fully-restored POWRIE CASTLE, near Dundee, is on at offers over £650,000. Perched over a dramatic rock outcrop it offers spectacular views over the Firth of Clyde and Loch Long. A cool £4.25m-plus will bag 5,000-acre DALCHULLY ESTATE, near Laggan, Inverness-shire. The Highland retreat of Xavier-Louis Vuitton – heir to the world-famous fashion dynasty – is part of the Ardverikie Estate, where BBC hit Monarch Of The Glen was filmed.
Jamie MacNab, of estate Savills, said: ” We’ve got castles on the market, of which are in the east, which is very rare. We’ve already had a lot of in Barcaldine Castle. People are saying it’s 30 cent cheaper for them to than it was a year ago of the euro strengthening against the pound.”
John Lambert, of Edinburgh chartered surveyors Clegg and Co, added: We’ve had interest from Belgians and French who are attracted they get much better for money.”
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