Mansion, tick; spectacular views, tick; an opportunity to make money, tick.
For those in the market for a magnificent place to call home, Killean Estate on the western side of the Mull of Kintyre in Argyll ticks an awful lot of boxes.
Joined to the mainland by a narrow strip of land at Tarbert, to the north, the peninsula has all the characteristics of island living but has the benefit of not being reliant on a sea link.
UPDATE: This property has now been sold and is no longer on the market
Killean enjoys a lovely coastal situation and from various vantage points there are panoramic views over the sea to the islands of Gigha, Islay and Jura, to Northern Ireland and the Atlantic Ocean beyond.
The estate lies a short distance south of the village of Tayinloan where there is a useful village shop and petrol station, while Campbeltown and Tarbert, both around 19 miles away, offer a wider range of facilities.
Killean is a truly classic estate, combining all the most desirable ingredients: a principal house, cottages, farming, forestry and sport.
The centrepiece of the estate is Killean House, a category A-listed Baronial-style mansion which has been completely refurbished in recent years to provide splendid and comfortable accommodation.
In 1875, James Macalister Hall, a colourful and successful far eastern entrepreneur, bought Killean. He began the restoration of the original Killean House almost immediately, but during the last stages of work almost the whole house was destroyed by fire.
The surviving billiard room wing was to form the basis of what is now the Garden House beside the walled garden and the teak wood porch built by a well-known firm of Clyde shipbuilders was incorporated into today’s mansion house which Macalister Hall originally commissioned from John Burnet, father of the celebrated Arts and Crafts architect, John James Burnet, who revised and executed the plans. The house was completed in the early 1880s.
The other estate buildings offer a tremendous mix of styles and designs with a Georgian villa, remodelled by J.J. Burnet, a superb Victorian steading built as the estate dairy, and a substantial stable block and kennels beyond the house.
There are nine estate dwellings in all, which are mostly let as holiday accommodation, and a courtyard complex of 10 holiday cottages; none of these impinges on the privacy of the main house.
Killean’s wonderful gardens centre around well-tended lawns bounded by rhododendrons and azaleas which create a mass of colour in spring and early summer and are interspersed with mature shrubs and trees which blend into the woodland beyond.
The woodlands are at their best in spring, when the abundant snowdrops, bluebells, daffodils and narcissi form a colourful carpet on the woodland floor. The presence of palm trees in the garden is a constant reminder that Kintyre enjoys all the benefits of the Gulf Stream. The walled garden has been magnificently restored.
The farmland at Killean is all in-hand and is run by the owner in conjunction with his livestock farming enterprise in Lancashire and the adjoining units of Killean Home Farm and Dalmore Farm, which are concurrently being marketed separately.
The farmland on the estate extends to about 463 acres and comprises 101 acres of permanent pasture and 362 acres of rough grazing. The estate woodlands of about 139 acres have been managed with both landscape and sporting objectives in mind.
Particular emphasis has been put on selected felling and replanting to conserve and enhance the beauty of the estate.
The estate, which is on the market at offers over £2.75million for the whole, offers a wonderful variety of sport. In recent years, 2,000 pheasants and 400 partridge have been released annually and up to four driven days have been let with a number of family days in addition.
Other game includes woodcock, snipe, wildfowl and the occasional small bag of grouse. There is also excellent stalking, mainly for sika, with a few roe and the occasional red deer.
Planning consent has been granted for the construction of a micro hydro scheme with an installed output of 150Kw.
The project will involve the construction of a 10m-high dam to create a reservoir of some 24,000m3 in a narrow gorge through which the Killean Burn currently runs. Consent has been granted to connect into the grid and the connection charge has been paid.
Luke French, of selling agent Savills, said: “The estate has been previously marketed as a whole, focusing on the variety of income-generating enterprises. For this re-launch we have decided to offer it in lots, separating out some of the obviously distinct elements, such as the holiday letting complex and development opportunities.
“This opens it up to a much wider range of potential purchasers, but doesn’t preclude someone buying the whole estate. Now that the general election is over, we feel that some of the jitters have gone out of the market. It’s a fabulous property, with a great range of enterprises, from the more traditional holiday lettings to the hydro scheme.”
The estate is available to buy as a whole or in three lots with the following guide prices:
Lot 1: Killean House, 613 acres of policies, farmland and woodland, other dwellings and potential hydro scheme at offers over £1,750,000.
Lot 2: Home Farm buildings and houses at offers over £550,000.
Lot 3: Drumnamucklach Holiday Letting Complex, offers over £450,000.
Contact: 0131 247 3720.
