Behind every door is a story waiting to be told, but behind the front door of Greylag, a unique detached cottage on Essil Road, Garmouth, there’s been many a particularly fascinating, and possibly hair-raising, tale told over the years.
The house has been owned by the same family for nearly half a century, and was the creation of owners Captain Neville Atkinson and his wife Lesley. The late captain was, quite simply, a fascinating man, as his son, Nigel Atkinson, who lives in Oldmeldrum, revealed.
“My parents bought the house back in the 1960s when dad was a naval pilot based at Lossiemouth. Years later, he became a civilian pilot and Colonel Ghadaffi’s personal pilot for 10 years. His job was to fly the Colonel and other people, such as Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat and Idi Amin, around the world. It was quite a job – he had missiles fired at him and everything,” said Nigel.
A Yorkshireman, who was also an entrepreneur and farmer, he led a very interesting life which included serving the British Royal Family during world tours and being personally responsible for top-secret communication to and from the Queen on the Royal Yacht Britannia.
He also wrote a biography outlining his main experiences entitled Death on Small Wings: Memoirs of a Presidential Pilot, which featured a foreword by newsman John Simpson CBE.
In it, he describes the captain as an adventurer who remained true to himself and loyal to his principles and also highlights that it takes a special kind of man to ask Llich Sanchez, better known to the world as terrorist Carlos the Jackal – who he was flying – to sign a copy of Forsyth’s book, Day of the Jackal.
Although always a high flier who travelled the world, there was no place like home for Neville, Lesley and their children Nigel and Trudi. “Greylag started out as two separate farm cottages that had belonged to the neighbouring Newton Farm. But over the years, they were gutted and expanded upwards and outwards to make one big house,” said Nigel.
“My sister and I grew up here and when I think of Greylag, I think of a lovely family house full of happy memories, created both as a child and an adult when the family would gather there for lovely Christmases together. We’d also have lots of fun playing family games of snooker.”
The games room on the second floor is one of many rooms that make this house special. It runs the full length of the house and easily accommodates a full-size snooker table and comfortable lounge area. It’s reached by both a staircase and a lift, the latter being fitted to make life easier for the captain when he became poorly.
Starting on the ground floor, the full accommodation comprises a reception sun lounge, sun porch, lounge, dining kitchen, dining room, bathroom, utility room, guest WC, bathroom, study, office, lift and staircase to the first floor. The lounge is an impressive room with french doors overlooking the pretty, established gardens and countryside beyond, while the dining kitchen also offers excellent views. The kitchen has an extensive range of units, a substantial oil-fired Aga and a bult-in double electric oven, hob and hood, LPG single gas ring and built-in larders making it ideal for those who enjoy entertaining on a grand scale.
On the first floor, there is a master bedroom with french doors leading out to a spacious south-facing balcony, dressing room and en suite bathroom with walk-in wardrobes; a guest bedroom with en suite bathroom; a double bedroom with french doors leading to the north-facing balcony and a linked nursery room; a further double bedroom, family bathroom and good-sized laundry room. The second floor features the games room and a bathroom.
The house, which is almost mid-way between Inverness and Aberdeen and has an asking price of offers over £550,000, comes with a double garage with workshop, woodshed and substantial grounds with lawns surrounded by mature trees, fruit trees, shrubs and a vegetable patch. A paved area round the property leads to a driveway providing a good deal of off-road parking.
“The house also has solar panels which brings in around £2,000 a year, and a ground air source heat supply which has currently been decommissioned as mum preferred the oil-fired central heating, but it could easily be reinstated,” said Nigel.
It’s a big wrench for the family to be parting with Greylag, but the house is just too big for them now. “I would love to see a family moving in, but the design is such it could easily be run as a guest house or small hotel.”
Contact Wink and Mackenzie on 01343 555150.
