Stunning waterside mill near Dunblane features in Scotland’s Home of the Year

The Old Mill in Dunblane sits on the banks of the Allan Water. Its owners rescued it from ruin and transformed it into a wonderful family home.

By Jack McKeown

May 18 2024, 5:55am

The Old Mill near Dunblane won the fourth episode of Scotland's Home of the Year. Image: Kirsty Anderson.

An astonishing mill conversion near Dunblane features in Scotland’s Home of the Year on Monday.

The Old Mill lies on the banks of the Allan Water and is surrounded by fields and woodland.

Built 200 years ago, it was abandoned for more than 25 years and was derelict when Lee and Dawn Collins bought it.

“It was in quite a state when we got it and had been derelict for at least 25 years,” Lee explains.

“But it was too good an opportunity to pass up. You had this great mill building on a site with a river running through it.

Lee and Dawn outside the Old Mill on a sunny day. — Lee and Dawn outside the Old Mill near Dunblane. Image: Kirsty Anderson.

“Everyone I spoke to told me it was too big to be a house and should be split up into units but we really wanted to create a special family home for ourselves.

“The original mill was surrounded by newer industrial units. We wanted to expose the mill so we demolished the newer extensions to reveal the original building.”

Restoring the Old Mill near Dunblane…

Lee and Dawn own Braco Designs, a company specialising in kitchens, bathrooms, and property renovations. They were able to use their own tradesmen to carry out the conversion and restoration of the mill.

The dilapidated Old Mill, which had lain empty for 25 years, with piles of rubble beside it. — The Old Mill had lain empty for 25 years. Image: Braco Designs.

“A lot of the work was carried out during Covid,” Lee explains.

“Because the building was empty and because it was so big, we could work on it with social distancing in place.

“It was a huge project and the work took about three years. We were finally able to move in around eight or 10 months ago.”

Today, the Old Mill is a beautifully restored family home with a wonderful heritage. It has been split into a three-bedroom main house with a home office, and a two-bedroom townhouse annex.

The kitchen, with island unit, which shows how the interior retains its industrial heritage. — The interior retains its industrial heritage. Image: Kirsty Anderson.

The original stonework has been repointed and contrasting black zinc cladding applied to cover a front projection and the dormers.

The Old Mill is filled with relics of its industrial past, including ironwork and metal hoists.

Main house and annex

Lee, 50, and Dawn, 49, live in the main house with their labradoodle Jude. Meanwhile their son Max, 23, and daughter Ali, 24, occupy the townhouse, which has its own kitchen and living room.

The old Mill kitchen/dining area, which has high ceilings, exposed stone walls, and a wood-burning stove. — There are high ceilings, exposed stone walls, and a wood-burning stove. Image: Kirsty Anderson.

In the main house, the entrance hallway opens to a kitchen and dining area, and there’s a separate lounge. A wood-burning stove warms the main living spaces and has a flue that runs up through the roof, spreading warmth into the upper level.

“The spaces are generous but we wanted it to feel homely and not vast,” Lee says. “We tried to keep as many original features as possible.”

The master bedroom is almost a self-contained flat, with a bathroom, kitchenette and living room that has fabulous views over the Allan Water.

The main bedroom has a day bed in the window nook. Image: Kirsty Anderson.

The master bedroom has its own living room with views over the Allan Water. Image: Kirsty Anderson.

As well as the main bed, it also has a day bed fitted into a dormer window, which perfectly frames the view outside.

An old lift shaft has been turned into a small home office. Although there’s no longer a lift, the buttons to call it remain. If you press them a voice intones: “The lift’s broke, ye’ll need tae get the stairs.”

“That’s my dad’s voice,” Lee chuckles. “He did a lot of work for us. He’s an artist and he’s great at doing paint effects. All the timber that looks really aged was done by him.”

The Old Mill stars on Scotland’s Home of the Year

On Monday the Old Mill will feature in the fourth episode of Scotland’s Home of the Year 2024. It’s up against a semi-detached Victorian house in nearby Bridge of Allan, and a converted farmhouse between Falkirk and Linlithgow.

It was Lee’s son Max who entered Lee and Dawn into Scotland’s Home of the Year.

“He did it without telling us,” Lee smiles. “At first I wasn’t going to do the show but it is a great house and it’s good to showcase the work the tradesmen did.

The SHOTY judges loved the interior. Image: Kirsty Anderson.

An office in The Old Mill. — Attention has been paid to every detail. Image: Kirsty Anderson.

“We love living here. The decking is a great place to sit and watch the world go by. No one knows what’s in the future, but our intention is for this to be our last home.”

Now in its sixth season, the show scours Scotland for the country’s finest new homes.

Each episode focuses on a different region, with the grand final bringing together the winners from each area before unveiling the winner.

Scotland’s Home of the Year is judged by interior designer Anna Campbell-Jones, Architect Danny Campbell, and Mull-based interior designer Banjo Beale.

Impressing Danny Campbell and SHOTY judges

The judges loved the contrast between the old and the new, and the exposed stonework inside the Old Mill. They were also wowed by the quality of the work and the number of original features that were rescued and restored.

Banjo Beale said: “It’s no mean feat to bring a building like this back to life. It takes imagination and ingenuity and I think they’ve done it with conviction.”

Danny Campbell said: “This has been such a fun home to explore. The homeowners brought a huge amount of playfulness into how they’ve reimagined some of the features of the original building.

Lee and Dawn rescued the Old Mill and turned it into a stunning family home. Image: Kirsty Anderson.

A black and white picture showing how the Old Mill originally looked. Smith Meters Ltd is painted on the side of the building. — How the Old Mill originally looked. Image: Braco Designs.

“They’ve elevated the property by adding some of their own, unique spaces like the corner dormer window, creating that day bed.

“One of the nicest moments, for me, was when we arrived at the property and saw the simplicity of the new intervention of the black zinc cladding and how that actually accentuated the old part of the building.”

Anna Campbell-Jones added. “It takes a lot of commitment to bring a look like this together so consistently through such a variety of spaces and they have done it so well.”