Calendar An icon of a desk calendar. Cancel An icon of a circle with a diagonal line across. Caret An icon of a block arrow pointing to the right. Email An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of the Facebook "f" mark. Google An icon of the Google "G" mark. Linked In An icon of the Linked In "in" mark. Logout An icon representing logout. Profile An icon that resembles human head and shoulders. Telephone An icon of a traditional telephone receiver. Tick An icon of a tick mark. Is Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes. Is Not Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes with a diagonal line through it. Pause Icon A two-lined pause icon for stopping interactions. Quote Mark A opening quote mark. Quote Mark A closing quote mark. Arrow An icon of an arrow. Folder An icon of a paper folder. Breaking An icon of an exclamation mark on a circular background. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Caret An icon of a caret arrow. Clock An icon of a clock face. Close An icon of the an X shape. Close Icon An icon used to represent where to interact to collapse or dismiss a component Comment An icon of a speech bubble. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Ellipsis An icon of 3 horizontal dots. Envelope An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Home An icon of a house. Instagram An icon of the Instagram logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. Magnifying Glass An icon of a magnifying glass. Search Icon A magnifying glass icon that is used to represent the function of searching. Menu An icon of 3 horizontal lines. Hamburger Menu Icon An icon used to represent a collapsed menu. Next An icon of an arrow pointing to the right. Notice An explanation mark centred inside a circle. Previous An icon of an arrow pointing to the left. Rating An icon of a star. Tag An icon of a tag. Twitter An icon of the Twitter logo. Video Camera An icon of a video camera shape. Speech Bubble Icon A icon displaying a speech bubble WhatsApp An icon of the WhatsApp logo. Information An icon of an information logo. Plus A mathematical 'plus' symbol. Duration An icon indicating Time. Success Tick An icon of a green tick. Success Tick Timeout An icon of a greyed out success tick. Loading Spinner An icon of a loading spinner. Facebook Messenger An icon of the facebook messenger app logo. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Facebook Messenger An icon of the Twitter app logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. WhatsApp Messenger An icon of the Whatsapp messenger app logo. Email An icon of an mail envelope. Copy link A decentered black square over a white square.

A labour of love

Post Thumbnail

Take a gander at the enormous U-shaped steading that is the Arches.

It looks like it would take a team of professional builders to put together.

In fact, it was built by its owner Sandy Miller and his son in law.

Working almost single handedly, the two men slept in a caravan on site during the dreadful winter of 2010 and completed the build in less than a year.

Most incredibly of all, Sandy was 70 when he built the house. A joiner by trade, it was his final project before he retired.

Sandy (75) and his wife Irene (70) have lived in The Arches for five years now. It’s located in Carpow, a tiny hamlet close to Abernethy, just across Perthshire’s border with Fife.

Courier Features - Jack McKeown story - The Arches - Capow. House & Home pictures of The Arches in Carpow, near Abernethy. Picture shows; Irene and Sandy (Alexander) Miller, Friday 8 July 2016
Courier Features – Jack McKeown story – The Arches – Capow. House & Home pictures of The Arches in Carpow, near Abernethy. Picture shows; Irene and Sandy (Alexander) Miller, Friday 8 July 2016

The house is built using the SIPs (Super Insulated Panels) system, where large sections fit together to create a structure that’s much more energy efficient than your average new build home.

“We wanted to make it as environmentally friendly as possible,” Irene explains. “We have an air-source heat system and all the windows are double glazed.

Courier Features - Jack McKeown story - The Arches - Capow. House & Home pictures of The Arches in Carpow, near Abernethy. Picture shows; the view over countryside towards River Tay from living room, Friday 8 July 2016

“We only ever have the heating on at its lowest setting and then only for the two or three coldest months.”

A heat recovery system removes stale air while transferring its warmth into the incoming fresh air.

The Millers purchased their plot from a nearby farmer. Getting mains water on the site would have proved costly, as there was a railway line to cross, so instead a borehole was drilled in the garden. This supplies fresh, clean drinking water, while a rainwater harvesting system feeds the toilets.

There’s a state of the art bio-disc septic tank that cleans waste before it flows into a nearby burn. “Apparently it cleans the sewage so thoroughly you can drink the water that comes out of it,” Irene explains before hurriedly adding: “We’ve never tried it though.”

KMil_Features_Houseand Home_TheArches_080716

Internally, there are three bedrooms, living room, dining room, family room, dining kitchen, large family bathroom, wet room, utility and integral garage. The master bedroom has a large dressing room. “We were originally going to make it an en suite but the main bathroom’s just next door and there’s only the two of us so it didn’t seem necessary,” explains Irene.

Courier Features - Jack McKeown story - The Arches - Capow. House & Home pictures of The Arches in Carpow, near Abernethy. Picture shows; the view from the attic, Friday 8 July 2016

Clever touches abound, such as vacuum points where you plug a lightweight hose in rather than lugging a heavy cleaner around.

The beauty of the SIPs system is there are no load bearing walls, so new owners can tear out the house’s innards and remodel it from a blank canvas.

The expansive attic is ripe for conversion and SIPs builds have no trusses, giving plenty of scope for additional rooms.

KMil_Features_Houseand Home_TheArches_080716

Outside, a gravel driveway sweeps into a parking area. There’s a large detached workshop – measuring nearly 40×25 feet) with a double height roller door that can fit a motorhome underneath.

The back garden merges directly into the fields and woods running down to the River Tay.

“I didn’t want any fences,” Sandy explains. “I like that the countryside is just there.”

Courier Features - Jack McKeown story - The Arches - Capow. House & Home pictures of The Arches in Carpow, near Abernethy. Picture shows; view from the garden looking towards River Tay and Earn, Friday 8 July 2016

Sadly, Sandy was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease two years ago and the couple plan to move to a smaller home in the Fife village of Kingskettle, where they formerly lived.

The Arches is being sold via Bradburne & Co for offers over £495,000.

www.bradburne.co.uk