One of the many joys of this job is exploring new places.
There’s something wonderful about delving up a country lane you’ve never noticed before.
“That’s exactly how we found this house in the first place,” Ian Meharg smiles. “We had a timeshare nearby and saw a For Sale sign when we were driving past. We followed the sign and it led us here.”
“Here” is Mill House, on Comrie Farm in Keltneyburn, which must rank as one of Highland Perthshire’s most idyllic spots.
I drive through Aberfeldy and past Weem and Castle Menzies before turning left and crossing a bridge by the ruins of Comrie Castle.
An unmarked single track lane hugs the banks of the River Lyon and from there a gravel drive leads up past a small lochan to a handsome L-shaped stone mill building anchored by a tower at one corner.
The B listed mill dates from 1830 and was converted into a small number of homes in 1993. Ian and his wife Liz bought Mill House just over a year ago.
“All of the other houses here are holiday homes,” Ian continues. “We’re the only ones who live here all year round.”
When the couple got the keys the house was a little unloved and they immediately set about renovation work.
“It hadn’t been touched since the 1990s so it was overdue for some TLC,” Liz explains. “Everything was green and yellow inside. It was a third home for the previous owners so they weren’t too fussed about the decor but it’s been our main home and it was important to get it looking the way we wanted.”
The couple have completely overhauled the house internally. They took out a partition wall to make the ground floor living room much bigger, making it open plan to the hallway and staircase.
They also installed a Danish biomass stove to augment the property’s electric heating system. Putting out a whopping 9.5KW of heat, it runs on wood pellets.
“We love it,” Ian says. “It’s less hassle than a wood burning stove. You just push a button to light it and you can operate it it using a remote control or the timer. It burns incredibly cleanly – we’ve had it for a year and the ash bucket is only half full. It costs around £3 a day so it’s a cost effective way to heat the house.”
The fire roars away merrily during my visit, pushing heat through the house. “The head flows through to the other rooms and upstairs,” Liz says. “It’s only on really cold days that you need the rest of the heating on.”
The living room has east and west facing windows, and south facing glazed doors to the garden. There’s a seating area beside the stove and a dining table and chairs behind it. The couple added a downstairs shower room underneath the stairs, and there’s a downstairs bedroom as well.
“The house would be suitable for multi-generational living,” Ian reckons. “You’ve got a bedroom and shower room on the ground floor so you can have grandparents down here and the rest of the family upstairs.”
The couple knocked down a wall to incorporate a dingy, dimly lit utility room into a large, bright, modern kitchen.
When they were carrying out the work they uncovered some of the building’s heritage.
“We found the mount for the mill wheel when we looked behind the kitchen wall,” Liz continues. “It was still in perfect condition. We thought about leaving it exposed but we would have had to completely change the layout for the kitchen so we covered it back up again. Who knows, maybe whoever owns the house 100 years from now will rediscover it?”
As is the case in the living room, the kitchen has numerous windows, throwing in plenty of light and affording nice views across the garden to the Perthshire mountains beyond.
Upstairs is another fantastic room. The family room has a pair of double glazed doors that open onto a Juliet balcony and frame a phenomenal view over Highland Perthshire.
“It’s a bit overcast today but normally you get a great view of Schiehallion,” Liz says. The room houses Ian’s guitar collection along with some high end speakers and an amplifier. “This is where he comes and caterwauls away while I’m downstairs by the fire,” Liz jokes.
There are three good sized double bedrooms, a family bathroom, and an en suite master bedroom on the first floor. One of the bedrooms is used as a home office while another is a dressing room.
“The dressing room is the only room we haven’t renovated,” Liz says. “We thought about incorporating it into the master bedroom but now that we’re moving on we’ve decided to leave it. The new owners might want to keep it as a dressing room or use it as a double bedroom.”
Among the many special features at Mill House are its windows. Every room has a unique arrangement and the thick stone walls make for deep sills. Most rooms have windows in more than one wall and there are numerous narrow windows reminiscent of the archery slits in Scottish castles. The windows in the master bedroom are at the perfect height to appreciate the mountain views when you’re lying in bed.
Outside, there’s a double garage as well as a communal courtyard area with plenty of parking, while Mill House has its own private garden and patio.
Until now, Ian and Liz have been in the same boat as many rural Perthshire residents – living in a beautiful location but with woeful broadband speeds. I visit on a great day for Mill House and its neighbours, as a man in a van is just finishing installing fibre optic cabling. “We only got about 1.5Mbps and had to mess around with dongles,” Ian says. “They’ve tested the new connection and it delivers almost 900Mbps, which is pretty astonishing.”
Ian,66, retired from his career in IT sales four years ago, however some new business opportunities have come up down south and he and Liz, 67, plan to move back to England.
“We will miss it here,” Liz says. “It really is a fantastic place to live.”
Mill House is on sale with Thorntons for offers over £480,000.
