Some homes just sell themselves. Sitting on the patio of the Bothy, bathed in sunshine and gazing to the glittering River Lyon far down on the valley floor, I feel happy and untroubled.
The building behind me is as lovely as its setting. And, with a price tag of £285,000, the Bothy is one of the few properties I feature in these pages that I could imagine buying on my journalist’s wages.
It sits around seven miles past Aberfeldy in the heart of Highland Perthshire.
Heading out through Weem and Dull (twinned with Boring) I take the turning for the hamlet of Keltneyburn, cross the bridge over the Keltney Burn, then take a track up into the hills.
Up and up I climb, rising from the valley floor until I’m deposited at a tiny community at the top of the road – two family homes and the little delight I’ve come here to look round.
The Bothy is a modest stone cottage that has been renovated and extended by its current owners.
Its location is unbeatable. There are views down the hill to the River Lyon and across to the peaks of Perthshire’s mountains.
Behind me lies another mountain range, with Schiehallion its crowning glory.
The Bothy is a simple little one-bedroom bolthole, the perfect retreat from the world.
It’s owned by Linda Carse and her husband Philip, who live in the Cotswolds and bought it as a base when their children went to university in Scotland.
“Our eldest son went to St Andrews University and our youngest to Dundee and Glasgow,” Linda says. “When we first came up here we stayed in Castle Menzies and fell in love with the area.
“The Bothy was part of an estate that hadn’t sold as a whole so was split into parts – a main house, the Bothy, two building plots and 80 acres of woodland.
“We bought the Bothy and the adjacent building plot so it wouldn’t get built on.”
When Linda and Philip bought it the Bothy was a little two bedroom cottage in need of some care. They tore down an old conservatory and replaced it with a stone and glass extension.
“Conservatories are not all that viable in Scotland and we wanted something that could be used all year round. We used the conservatory’s foundations and stone from the garden.”
Patio doors fill the extension’s south-facing wall and take in the whole breathtaking view. Another large window faces east, giving an outlook along the range of mountains on which the Bothy sits.
A dining table is placed in the window and it must be quite a thought to sit yourself anywhere else in the house – especially if you’ve lit the large wood burner that occupies one corner.
A telescope sits in one corner and I can imagine with zero light pollution the stars and planets must be a wonder to behold from here.
Tearing myself away from the view I explore the rest of the little house. The living room is open plan with the kitchen and has windows to the front and rear.
The gable end wall has been left as exposed stone. An enormous wood burner sits in the centre, with original stone flooring creating a natural hearth. With two large wood burners the house will be cosy in even the harshest of winters.
The roof height ceiling has exposed beams, while the kitchen has a lower ceiling with a mezzanine level above, accessed by a ladder. This has a Velux window and a double mattress. It’s not exactly a bedroom, but it’s perfect for the occasional guest.
“The living room has a sofabed and we’ve slept six here before,” Linda says. “When my son was at St Andrews he used to come up here during reading week to study somewhere quiet.
“My husband could work from home so we would often come up for a month.”
Along the hall is a spacious bathroom, with modern tiling and a window that lets you gaze at Schiehallion while sitting on the loo.
A cupboard in the hall contains the hot water tank and the washing machine.
The only bedroom is a spacious double, with a door out onto the patio and windows to both front and rear. It has plenty of built in storage as well as its own toilet and sink.
PROPERTY: Outstanding Fife cottage on the banks of the River Eden
The Bothy may be a modest little home but it has good sized grounds. The jewel in its crown is the stone patio to the front, which is a south-facing suntrap and enjoys some of Scotland’s best views.
Behind the Bothy is a raised area of lawn which also enjoys the view from across the house’s rooftop.
A large part of the Bothy’s land is given over to wilderness, with trees and brush creating a natural screen from the two neighbouring houses. As well as being low maintenance, it makes the garden feel a natural part of the hillside – and the trees will be a good source of firewood to keep the wood burners supplied.
A fenceline demarcates the Bothy’s ground from the wooded hillside behind. There are amazing walks in all directions and part of me itches to fetch my golden retriever, put my hiking boots on and set off to explore.
“You can literally go out in any direction,” Linda continues. “You can climb Schiehallion from the front door. We loved bringing our dogs up here and exploring.
“The neighbours below us own the woodland behind. It was a commercial plantation and unfortunately it needed harvested because the trees were falling down so the hillside looks a bit bare right now.
“They’ve replanted with a mix of native trees and they won’t be harvested so once they grow they’ll be there forever.”
With their children graduated and living in England Linda, 59 and Philip, 57, have reluctantly decided to sell. “It’s a huge wrench and I sometimes think we’re mad but the house deserves to be used more often than we’re able to these days,” Linda says.
One of the measures of how nice a place is to live is how much of a community spirit it has. So on my way out I’m pleased to see the pretty little timber bus stop at the foot of the track leading up to the bothy has a shelf filled with paperbacks – a little library the locals have created.
It’s little things like that which make a place special.
The Bothy, Upper Blairish, Keltneyburn, Aberfeldy is on sale with Savills for offers over £285,000. A closing date has been set for noon on Thursday April 1.
