Home Farm was once an agricultural building and sawmill for nearby Auctherarder House. Today it’s an idyllic country home nestled in more than 6.5 acres of mature gardens.
It sits off a quiet country lane less than a mile from the town of Auchterarder and is within easy reach of Gleneagles Hotel.
The red sandstone building wraps around a sheltered central courtyard and has a handsome bell tower.
Built around 150 years ago, it was converted into a house in 1992 and John and Barbara Weir bought it in 1997.
An electric gate glides open, giving access to a driveway and parking areas at the front, side and rear of the house.
A large front door opens into a bright reception hall with limestone flooring. This connects to a huge and fantastic conservatory, which looks over the courtyard between two wings of the house.
“It gets a lot of solar gain which flows through and keeps the rest of the house warm,” John explains.
When the sun isn’t shining, a double-sided wood burning stove faces into the conservatory and living room, throwing plenty of heat into both rooms.
Luxury kitchen
Beyond the conservatory is the enormous kitchen. It’s the heart of the home and is where the couple spend much of their time.
Refitted five years ago, it has a large central island, a dining table, and a living area with comfortable chairs and an enormous wall-mounted television. There are marble worktops, an Aga, and a boiling water tap.
One of the couple’s two dogs, three-year old Labrador Buddy, bounds over to greet me. Barbara is a volunteer for Canine Partners and Buddy has been trained to do many of the same things as assistance dogs.
When I fumble and drop my pen he carefully picks it up from the floor and gives it to Barbara to return to me.
The main living room is off the conservatory and is semi-open plan to an adjacent dining room where there’s a fully stocked bar and walk-in storage cupboard.
Beyond the kitchen is a utility room, store, WC and boot room. These rooms are the domain of the couple’s other dog, a 12-year old Lab called Purdy. He awakens from an afternoon snooze to say hello to his visitor, tail wagging sleepily.
Home Farm near Auchterarder has annex cottage
One wing of Home Farm has been turned into a self-contained annex cottage. It has two double bedrooms, an open plan kitchen/living/dining room, and a bathroom.
“We’ve never rented it but you could make a tidy sum from it,” John says. “We’re close to Gleneagles and this area is always popular with tourists. We’ve always just used it as extra accommodation for friends and family.”
A staircase from the kitchen leads to the upper level of the house. A galleried landing overlooks the kitchen and is used as a study.
“We’ve always had it as a home office but you could easily wall off the open section and make it another bedroom,” John explains.
Two large bedrooms both have en suite shower rooms and built-in storage. There’s also a sauna with its own shower.
Amazing master bedroom
Then there’s the master bedroom, which is more like a luxury hotel suite than anything you would expect to find in a private home.
The huge main bedroom leads through to a dressing room with his and hers sections. From there a couple of steps take you in to the luxury bathroom, which has a walk in shower, freestanding bathtub and twin sinks.
The master bedroom also houses a secret. What appears to be a cupboard door opens to reveal a staircase. This leads to the tower room, which has fabulous views from a large circular window.
At present this room is used for storage but it could be turned into a very special room for reading or enjoying a glass of wine or whisky.
Over the time they’ve been there, John and Barbara have largely revamped Home Farm.
The kitchen and every bathroom have been replaced and the conservatory has been renewed. They added insulation in the roof which John says has reduced their heating bills by 20%.
Home Farm is huge. The main house has 566 sqm of living space, with the two-bedroom cottage adding another 88 sqm.
John formerly ran a successful network of Mercedes-Benz dealerships under the John R. Weir name until 2012 when he retired and sold his business to Arnold Clark.
Garage and office
Despite leaving the industry, he’s still a keen car enthusiast and had a large garage built at Home Farm.
This has room for numerous cars and a large office above, which would be perfect for running a business from home but could easily be converted into a studio flat.
“The office is extremely well insulated,” John says. “If you switch the heating on it’s warm within 10 minutes.”
There is also an integral two-car garage with an EV charging point.
Home Farm garden and pond
Home Farm sits in just over 6.5 acres of grounds. It has a pond with several resident wild ducks, and large expanses of lawn.
A band of mature trees provides privacy and shelter from the wind. A new fence made from recycled coffee cups was installed to keep deer out and the stone wall bordering the quiet country lane beside the house was rebuilt.
Home Farm remains a haven for wildlife. On my visit, several red squirrels are scampering across the grass and up their favourite trees, while rabbits graze quietly on the lawn.
With their two children having long since moved away, Home Farm is far too big for John and Barbara, both 76. The couple have bought a smaller house in nearby Auchterarder. Car fanatic John is reluctantly selling down his collection of automobiles ahead of the move.
As far as I can tell he’s managed to reduce his fleet to around half a dozen models. Barbara rolls her eyes: “The new house doesn’t have a garage and we’ll only have space on the driveway for two!”
Home Farm, Auchterarder, is on sale with Rettie for offers over £1.5 million.
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