The Old Cornmill at Bridgend of Lintrathen is a Tardis of a house.
From the road all the passing visitor sees is a snug one-level cottage tucked into a scenic corner of Angus.
Take the old stone stairs down to the secluded rear, however, and another two sprawling floors make themselves apparent, along with a garden that stretches to nearly 200 metres of river frontage.
“We like that it looks like a little but ‘n’ ben from the front,” says owner Colin Hawkesworth. “It makes the rest of the house feel like a hidden treasure.”
The Cornmill is sandwiched by water. It backs onto Melgam Water, enjoying a span of river frontage, while to the front is Lintrathen Reservoir, a scenic inland loch that supplies drinking water to Dundee and Angus and is popular with bird watchers and anglers.
According to the date stone above its door, the Cornmill was built in 1860. A keystone on the sluice by the waterwheel reads 1706, indicating that at least parts of the building have much older origins.
After lying derelict it was converted into two separate dwellings in 1990, an upper floor cottage and a house on the lower two levels. In 2002 the two properties were combined into one four bedroom/three bathroom house.
Helicopter pilot Colin (50) and his wife Denise (52) have lived there for eight years.
The Old Cornmill abounds with charming nods to its history.
Most obvious is a large section of the mill’s original workings which have been preserved behind a glass wall beside the dining table in the open plan living area.
Next to these is a “staircase to nowhere” used by Colin and Denise as a display area for photographs.
Poles, pulleys and other pieces of mill paraphernalia are located all over the house. The external stairs and the step up to the kitchen have depressions made by millions of footsteps over the years.
The living/dining area on the lower floor has an enormous wood burner, which puts out 30kw of heat – most household burners sit in the 4-7kw range.
“It does our hot water and heats the entire house,” Colin explains. “The heat drifts into the kitchen and also upstairs. It also powers the radiator system – about an hour after you get the fire going heat starts flowing through the radiators.” The hot water tank is well insulated – in the summertime lighting the fire for a couple of hours on a cool evening is enough to generate a few days’ worth of hot water.”
On the middle level are two bedrooms, including the en suite master, and a family bathroom. The top floor has two more bedrooms and a sitting room with balcony.
A door around the side of the property opens into a room that contains the original waterwheel, which has a 13 foot span.
Some of the decor at the Old Cornmill needs renewed – the kitchen and bathrooms are tired – but with an asking price of £280,000 it is a lot of property for the money.
The garden would struggle to be more idyllic. A waterfall drops down to a pool which flows out into Melgam Water, a tributary of the River Isla. The garden stretches sideways along the riverbank where otter, deer and sparrowhawk are regular sights.
The Old Watermill is on sale through Savills for offers in excess of £280,000. www.savills.com