Land ahoy

The market for Scottish estates is changing, as the demand for 'natural capital' soars

- Penny Churchill

ONE of few large Scottish estates seen on the open market in 2022, the illustrious, 1,528-acre Careston residential and farming estate near Brechin, Angus, reflected the changing face of the Scottish land market. Its sale saw the Category A-listed castle with 345 acres of land acquired by a European buyer, the bulk of the remaining farmland being purchased by expanding commercial farmers or those with rollover funds burning holes in their pockets.

Launched onto the market by Savills in autumn 2021 at a guide price of £11.3 million for the whole—or in eight lots—the sale of the Careston estate marked the end of an era for the Adamson family, whose home it had been for 150 years. Described by the writer Ochterlony in 1682 as ‘without debait the best gentleman’s house in the shyre’, Careston Castle was built in the late 16th century by Sir Henry Lindsay, later 13th Earl of Crawford, and revamped by his nephew, Lord Spynie, in the 1620s.

By 1721, the castle was owned by Maj George Skene and passed down through his family to his great-granddaughter, who married Alexander, 3rd Earl of Fife. An article in COUNTRY LIFE (March 1, 1913) notes the addition of a grand staircase hall at the rear, and the embellishment of the 16th-century turrets with crenellations in the Gothic style. Further additions were made for John Adamson, the son of a Dundee whaling captain and owner of the Erichtside linen works at Blairgowrie, who bought Careston from the Earl of Fife in 1872.