A vast Caithness estate where the Queen Mother sought solace after the death of King George VI – and which offers massive potential for tourist development in the north – is up for auction for almost £1million.
Dunnet Estate, near Thurso, looks out across across the Pentland Firth towards the Orkney Islands and sits next to the popular NC500 tourist route.
The ten-bedroomed baronial-style mansion – called the House of the Northern Gate – is on a peninsula of the most northerly coastline on the UK mainland.
A large stretch of beach, which can only be reached from within the estate, six lochs and 1,800 acres of land, including grouse shooting, are all to go under the hammer with a starting guide price of £925,000.
The mansion’s visitors’ book shows that the Queen Mother stayed there in 1953.
But it was clearly seen as a place to escape from the rat race and over the years it has also attracted rock star royalty, including the band Led Zeppelin who showed interest in buying the property for a recording studio when it came onto the market in 1974.
Gillian Cochrane, director of operations at Auction House Scotland, said: “The house now needs modernising, but the potential for the estate is enormous with possibilities ranging from a hotel to serviced apartments for tourists visiting the area.”
The numerous development options could include a hotel to take advantage of the hugely popular North Coast 500 route which passes within a stone’s throw of the estate.
Another option would be to become “Laird of The Manor” and create a family home.
The estate also has planning approved for 10 timber lodges which could feed on the tourism industry.
The estate mansion was built by Admiral Alexander Sinclair between 1895 and 1908. He died in 1945 and the estate was bought three years later by Commander Clare George Vyner and his wife Lady Doris Vyner, who was a close friend of the Queen Mother.
Lady Doris invited her to stay at the house in 1953 and while there she viewed the tower of Barrogill Castle, which she bought and renamed the Castle of Mey which became an annual holiday destination for the Queen Mother.
After the Vyners, the house was run as a hotel by Bill Dodd from 1967 until 1974 when it went back on the market.
It sold to Divanian Gold, a Jewish clothes manufacturer, who sold it to the current owner’s family in the mid-1980s.
The estate will be sold at auction in Glasgow on March 22.
