Loch Tay glisters and gleams as sun, cloud and rain dance across it. There’s a well stocked bar and a full size snooker table in the living room. If I didn’t have to go back to work I could enjoy a very good afternoon.
I’m standing in the living room of Corriegorm, a country house that occupies a plot above Loch Tay, near the hamlet of Fearnan.
It’s owned by Michael and Kirsty Morrice, who bought the house seven years ago. Corriegorm was once a humble 19th Century cottage but has been extended several times over the decades since it was built.
It now sits in a U-shape, with a central courtyard dividing two wings. A pair of large towers and a wall of arched windows give amazing views across Loch Tay and the Perthshire hills.
It’s reached via a private track that runs up from the road along Loch Tay’s northern shore.
“We looked at houses that were right down on the water’s edge but being that bit higher up gives you the full sweep of the view,” Michael explains.
Easily the best room in the house is the magnificent living/entertaining room, which stretches more than 45 feet and has five arched windows looking over the loch.
A huge fireplace with a wood burning stove fills one end. The corner tower room also has enormous windows and is a lovely place to relax and read.
The master bedroom occupies the other tower room and enjoys some of the best views you could wish to wake up to.
Michael and Kirsty removed a wall between the kitchen and dining area to create a much larger kitchen.
There are six bedrooms in total, four with en suite bathrooms. The double garage also has an annex flat above it, with an open plan living/kitchen/sleeping space and a shower room.
Michael also built a summer house from structural insulated panels (SIPs) which houses Michael’s rowing machine, and an orangery provides plenty of scope for growers.
The gardens are a marvel. Stretching to around 1.7 acres they slope gently down the hillside and are planted with rhododendrons, azaleas and ferns. The Balnearn burn flows down the western side of the property and paths and bridges crisscross it on its meandering journey.
The burn also gravity-feeds the fountain in the garden’s pond, while a derelict pump-house suggest it may once have been used to generate power. Available separately is a nearby lochside plot that has permission to build a two-storey boathouse. “I love rowing and the idea was to keep my boat there and row on the loch but like a lot of plans I haven’t managed to get round to it yet,” Michael says.
He and Kirsty, both 62, are moving to Edinburgh where he runs an IT consultancy firm.
“We had thought to retire here but we love having all the bars and restaurants of Edinburgh on our doorstep,” he says. “One thing I will miss very much is not having this view to look at every day.”
jmckeown@thecourier.co.uk
Corriegorm, Fearnan, Aberfeldy is on sale with Savills for o/o £850,000.