Pride of Scotland

Lochs, burns, wild mountains, cattle, fishing, shooting and grouse moors: Scotland has it all in spades, as these properties show

- Penny Churchill

FROM grand country houses to farms and estates, from remote Highland lodges to coastal retreats, buyers in Scotland are currently spoilt for choice. This week, we take a look at some of the most exciting properties currently on the market north of the Border.

In 1790, renowned Scottish architects Robert and James Adam designed Glencarse House in the Carse of Gowrie, a 20-mile stretch of fertile land on the north shore of the Firth of Tay between Perth and Dundee, for estate owner Thomas Hunter. Listed Category C and still one of Perthshire’s most impressive country houses, handsome Glencarse House, set in 18½ acres of gardens and parkland looking south over farmland towards Fife on the south bank of the Firth of Tay, is for sale through Knight Frank (0131–222 9608) and Rettie & Co (0131–220 4160) for ‘offers over £2.15 million’.

In his book The Fair Land of Gowrie (Culross & Son, 1939), author Lawrence Melville describes Glencarse as it stood then: ‘The original mansion is of Adam design. It was greatly enlarged in the 19th and 20th centuries by the addition of wings in the east and west. Stone steps and the balustrade have been placed at the front and altogether the house has been completely modernised.’ It is further described as ‘a beautiful sheltered residence’ and the grounds as being ‘tastefully laid out… the trees embrace many rare specimens, some of which were imported many years ago from the Himalayas’.