Dusk. A boisterous burn illuminated by outside lights. A stone house, reassuringly solid in the fading light.
The owners of Burn Den, David and Lorna Fulton, are sat on comfortable chairs in the conservatory, which is filled with heat from two radiators.
I sit down for coffee with them, looking out the window to the babble and tumble of the stream just a few feet away. There are few nicer spots to while away the tail end of a cold winter’s afternoon.
David (57) and Lorna (55) build the house in 1999 from the ruin of a former sawmill just outside the Perthshire hamlet of St Martins.
“There was just one gable and a few bits of the sawmill left,” David says. “We wanted to reuse the stone so the building fitted in with its heritage.” This involved demolishing the ruin and using the stone on a new house just a few feet away from the original site. Planners weren’t initially happy and it took two years before they were given permission to build.
The new house borrows design cues from the original water-powered sawmill, particularly in the use of arches.
“They’re real, self-supporting arches, not fake lintels,” David says. “I’d like to think if a mill worker from 150 years ago travelled forward in time they’d recognise their workplace in the building.”
For a new build, it’s steeped in history. “We back up against Dunsinane Estate,” David continues. “If you know your Shakespeare you’ll be aware that’s where Macbeth’s castle was.”
The six-bedroom home sits in almost an acre of ground with the burn that once powered the sawmill cutting through it.
Next to the conservatory is a sitting room with an open fire that casts a good heat on a cold December day. There’s also an open plan kitchen/dining/living room and two downstairs rooms that can be used for dining, sleeping or as a study.
Upstairs are four more bedrooms, the master with a large en suite, and a landing that’s also used as a study.
David and Lorna are building a new house on an acre of land adjacent to Burn Den. “We’re looking to build something that’s wood clad so it fits in with the environment and is almost to Passivhaus standard, so it costs virtually nothing to run,” Lorna says.
“We love this little piece of the world so we want to stay here. We are aware of the value of privacy though and the new house won’t overlook this one.
Burn Den is being sold with a very unusual perk – three weeks in one of the Fulton’s holiday homes in France.
“We have a home of our own and a number of holiday homes in the Dordogne,” Lorna says. “We’re there for six months of the year, spending summers in France and winters in Scotland.
“It was David’s idea to offer three weeks in one of our homes to whoever buys our house.
“We’re doing it for two reasons. One is it’s a wee marketing ploy. The other is that we’re going to be neighbours with whoever buys our house so we’d like them to know a bit about us and see where we spend six months of the year.”
jmckeown@thecourier.co.uk
Burn Den is on sale through Clyde Property for offers around £475,000.