It’s the style of house you might encounter beside the New England coastline – white walls, dormer windows and a porch to watch the state’s beautiful Fall colours from.
In fact I’m in the countryside near Comrie, a few miles outside Crieff. It’s still late summer and part of me yearns to see the autumn colours that will soon spread over the wooded hillside behind Cluan House.
The house sits at the edge of the old Dunira Estate and is one of a pair of properties designed by the Crombie-based James Denholm Partnership.
David and Liz Nicolson bought the property in 2002, while it was still being constructed, which allowed them to make a few changes to the design.
“We always loved James Denholm’s style,” Liz explains. “He incorporates lots of light, and his homes all feature overhangs and either sweeping staircases, a gallery, or both. I don’t understand why more architects don’t follow his style.”
The house sits up a lane off the A85 between Crieff and Loch Earn. A large monobloc driveway sits in front of a triple garage to the side of the house.
Two golden labradors – a mother and daughter, belonging to Liz and David’s daughter – dash out to greet me, before flopping down to rest from the heat.
David leads me in through a magnificent galleried hallway to the garden room for coffee.
The garden room is semi-open plan to the hallway and looks, as its name suggests, over the beautiful garden. To each side of the garden room are a dining kitchen and the drawing room.
“The original plans had the drawing room and garden room open plan to one another but that didn’t leave much space for furniture so we changed them to separate rooms,” Liz explains.
There’s also a formal dining room with a Velux light pocket throwing extra sunshine in, and a downstairs bedroom with a bathroom next to it.
Upstairs, the gallery looks down over the hall. The guest bedroom has privacy at one end of the house and enjoys its own en suite.
Two double bedrooms share a shower room, while the master bedroom has a dressing room as well as its own en suite bathroom.
The garden is David’s domain. He has beautifully landscaped and maintained it over the years, and added an Alpine-style rock garden beside the garage.
Double glazed doors from the kitchen and drawing room lead onto the stone patio, where overhanging eaves create a pretty verandah. A curved stone seating area with water feature lies at the bottom of the garden and faces west to capture the evening sun.
After 17 years David, 77, and Liz, 75, are selling Cluan House and moving to Edinburgh to enjoy the city life.
Liz smiles: “I shall miss the peace and all the lovely walks here, but we felt we should move while we’re still able to.”
Cluan House, Dunira, Comrie, is on sale with Savills for o/o £635,000.