It’s little wonder the bar in Distillery House’s fantastic games room barn has a large whisky selection. It was once the home of Tomdachoille Distillery, which was active between 1816 and 1878.
The barn and adjacent house were part of the sprawling Atholl Estate until 2002 when they were bought by one of the UK’s best-selling whisky writers.
Ian Buxton modernised and extended the house. Distillery House is also where he wrote his most famous work, 101 Whiskies to Try Before You Die, and a copy still sits on a bookshelf in the living room.
Jim and Lynne Weeney bought Distillery House four years ago, moving from Cheshire after having fallen in love with the area.
It isn’t difficult to see what attracted them to the house. It has a tremendously serene location within easy reach of Highland Perthshire’s biggest town.
Idyllic location
The handsome stone property sits on a single track country lane 1.5 miles from Pitlochry. The River Tummel flows past less than 100 metres away and a track leads down to the riverside.
Behind the house is a wooded backdrop where there are endless walks for the couple’s two-year old black lab Ava. When I visit on a bright and warm late afternoon she’s lounging comfortably in the suntrap courtyard beside the front door.
The front door opens into a hall where there’s a utility room and a WC with vivid grouse wallpaper – and a miniature of the Famous Grouse in case guests get thirsty in there. A connecting door leads into the double garage and another door opens into the kitchen.
Warmed by a large Aga and with solid timber cabinetry and space for dining the kitchen is a welcoming and homely space.
Stepping into the living room I’m greeted to a sweeping view across the Tummel to the Highland Perthshire mountains beyond thanks to an enormous bank of corner windows.
A pair of armchairs sit facing the vista. A red squirrel scurries up the feeder outside the window and begins happily munching on some nuts. “He’s one of two red squirrels we have in the garden,” Jim explains. “We get lots of great wildlife here.”
The living room has an inset log burner and built-in bookshelves. Beyond it is another entrance vestibule and the original front door of the house. Past that is a guest bedroom with its own en suite shower room and walk-in wardrobe.
Exploring upstairs
Distillery House has two sets of stairs. The first belongs to the old part of the house. It leads up to a bright landing, two double bedrooms and a family bathroom. The master bedroom has an en suite shower room and both bedrooms have bespoke built-in wardrobes.
Another staircase leads up to the attic level of the extension. This huge room is Jim and Lynne’s home office. It has a pair of workstations and fantastic views from large windows in the gable end. It also has its own shower room.
Measuring more than 30 feet long, the home office could easily be used as an extra bedroom or even converted into an annex flat.
Ian Buxton did an excellent job extending Distillery House. The stone walls and slate roof were chosen to match the main house and are indistinguishable now they’ve had a few years to weather.
The owners following Buxton modernised the barn where whisky was once distilled. “It was in a very bad state,” Jim explains. “The roof was gone and in another few years it would have been beyond rescue.”
Bar and games room
That would have been a shame as it’s a beautiful building. Today it’s a fantastic bar and games room split over two levels.
There is table tennis and darts then a lounge area with comfortable seating and a well-stocked bar.
Timber steps lead up to a mezzanine level where there’s a pool table and a pair of comfortable armchairs.
Large windows at either end of the barn and a Velux in the roof make the barn a light filled space.
The enormous wood burner is blazing on my visit and the barn is cosy and welcoming.
“We use it a lot,” Lynne says. “We’ve had parties with more than 20 people in here. People love to come and hang out at our bar and it’s great for a ceilidh.”
Underneath the mezzanine level are two storage areas. These have walls that slope inwards and would once have held the whisky stills.
Previous owners of Distillery House obtained planning permission to convert the barn into two holiday lets. Although long since lapsed, a new owner could easily apply for a change of use.
Gardens and burn
Distillery House has gardens extending to 0.86 acres. A tiny burn burbles across the front lawn and the couple had a pair of arched wooden bridges built to span them.
There are small patches of woodland to both sides, giving good privacy and providing fuel for the wood burning stoves. Courtyard seating areas to the front and rear are placed to capture the sun’s rays throughout the day.
Distillery House has a private water supply shared with neighbouring properties. It also recently had superfast fibre broadband installed, making it perfect for working from home.
Jim, 61, is an operations manager who works from Glasgow part of the week. Lynne, also 61, does bookkeeping mainly from home but with occasional trips to London. “It’s so easy to get into Pitlochry and take the train directly to London from there,” she says.
The couple have decided to put Distillery House on the market and plan to move into Pitlochry itself.
“Our original plan was to be in town but when we saw this house our heart won over our head and we couldn’t resist going for it,” Jim says.
“We’re planning to retire in a coupe of years and want to be in Pitlochry itself by then. I’m part of the whisky society and Lynne does a lot of golfing. We want to be able to walk into town easily.
“We’ve had a wonderful few years here but sadly it’s time for the head to rule the heart.”
Distillery House, Tomdachoille, Pitlochry was on sale with Savills for offers over £675,000 however is now under offer.
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