A country home close to Pittenweem lies at the end of a farm road and borders onto fields. Grange House enjoys tremendous seclusion, far reaching views across the Forth, and an easy stroll to the coast.
Plenty of people look for peace, quiet and seclusion in a home. They just don’t want it to come at the expense of being able to get anywhere easily.
Grange House ticks both those boxes. Little more than a mile from Pittenweem, it sits at the far end of a farm road, surrounded by fields and its own spinney of woodland.
The track leads past a firewood business and onto Grange House, where it turns and deposits me on a driveway.
The home is owned by the retired Reverend Charles and Dr Stephanie Thrower. They’ve lived there since 2002, when Charles retired from his parish of Carnbee, in the East Neuk, which came with a manse.
The house makes the most of its outlook over the coast, with the main rooms facing south to enjoy the views. A country kitchen has an LPG powered AGA and the sunroom is a lovely bright space with glazed doors out into the garden.
The living room has an open fire, making it cosy in winter. There’s a study that could be used as a fourth bedroom.
Upstairs are three double bedrooms, including the en suite master which is part of an extension. It has its own sitting room off, with a balcony that has outstanding views taking in the Forth, Bass Rock, and Lothian coastline.
“We love to sit out on the balcony having a coffee on summer mornings,” Stephanie says. “It’s one of our favourite parts of the house.”
There are solar panels on the roof, which benefit from the highest feed-in tariff, as well as generating electricity for the house.
The garden has been Charles’ passion. He overhauled the immediate area of garden to the front of the house. “It had quite bad drainage issues,” he explains. “So we added 100 tonnes of sand as drainage then soiled and returfed on top. We used the same grass as is on the Duke’s Course – I wanted it to look as good as possible.”
Beyond the lawn is a much larger expanse of grass, also neatly mowed, leading to a wildflower meadow that borders onto farmland. To the west of the property is a beautiful spinney of woodland.
“We always though it would be lovely to build a little glamping area beyond the spinney,” Stephanie explains. “It would make a nice holiday let – but we never got round to it.
“The surrounding farmland is being converted to organic status, which will bring in more wildlife.”
A large stone outbuilding is used for storage but would be easily big enough to be converted into a holiday cottage or annex accommodation. All told, the property stretches to 3.4 acres.
Now aged 82 and 81, Charles and Stephanie have decided it’s time to leave Grange House, and will be moving to a retirement village. “It’s been a very special home for the past 17 years,” Stephanie says.
Grange House, Pittenweem, is on sale with Savills for o/o £575,000
