A deserted country lane leads over a lovely old arched bridge before a track branches off to the side.
This deposits me on the driveway of The Grange, half a mile from the village of Inverkeilor in Angus, and 1.5 miles from the beauty of Lunan Bay.
For the last 35 years it’s been home to Bob Spink and his wife Rhona.
Bob (78) was the owner of RR Spink, the company famous for Arbroath Smokies that was founded by his family more than 300 years ago, in 1715.
Latterly he was an independent Angus councillor, stepping down last year due to health reasons.
His father, Robert Spink Senior, was a former Lord Provost of Angus.
What drew them to The Grange was quite simple. “I’ve always loved fishing,” Bob explains. “The Lunan Water runs right by the house and Lunan Bay is just along the road, so it was just perfect for me.”
The six-bedroom property’s origins are hazy but Bob suspects it was built in the 1770s, when the listed bridge nearby was also constructed, and then extended in the 19th Century.
The living room has a feature stone wall and open fire that keeps the Spinks cosy in the winter. Across the hall is the sitting room, which has Rhona’s beloved grand piano, and is another large south facing room.
The farmhouse-style kitchen has a beamed ceiling and Canadian red oak flooring.
The dining room also has a beamed ceiling and there’s an old fashioned pantry, large utility room and a coal store.
Upstairs are six bedrooms, three with sinks, and a family bathroom.
It would be hard for The Grange to be more attractively situated. A wooded bank slopes upward to the rear, while the garden slopes down to the banks of the Lunan Water, which flows silently by on its journey to the nearby sea.
There are a number of stone outbuildings in a courtyard to the side of the house and Bob converted one of these into a studio and snooker room.
“I’ve always enjoyed using my hands,” he says. “I’m a slow worker but I’m good at building with stone and wood.”
The two-room building has a snooker table in one room and Bob’s beloved fish collection in the other. “He used to come out here to ‘feed the fish’ all the time,” Rhona (79) smiles. “I suspect he was having a wee bottle of beer at the same time.”
Bob also built a patio and stone walls and put a fishpond into the garden.
The grounds stretch to 5.8 acres and a large grass area was formerly a paddock. “We used to have horses and one was very stubborn,” Rhona remembers. “Whenever he wanted to explore he’d lean against the fence until it fell over.”
The main house could do with a bit of upgrading and modernising to bring it into the 21st Century. It’s a lovely building in a tremendous setting, though and offers a fantastic blank canvas.
Bob now has mobility issues and, with their three children having long ago flown the nest, the couple need a house that is smaller and more easily managed.
“Our two daughters are in Forfar and we’re a wee bit old to be away out in the countryside,” Rhona says. “So ideally we’ll find a nice bungalow in Forfar.”
The Grange, Inverkeilor is on sale with Savills for offers over £450,000.
www.savills.com