Baronial Splendour At South Ballachulish

- As seen in Self Build Magazine

The West Highlands are Scotland's wilder side. Remote from the rest of the UK and from the oil-fuelled prosperity of the North East, their spectacular beauty attracts the retired, those in search of alternative lifestyles and the tourists who flock to hotels like the Ballachulish Hotel owned by the Young family on the shore of Loch Leven.

At first the Youngs lived in a small, three-bedroomed bungalow, originally intended for the hotel manager, at the rear of the building. But an expanding family soon put pressure on their living space.

"For about a year we'd been thinking about buying a bigger house locally or building," explains Laurence, "when a local farmer who owned a plot at the back of the hotel told us he was thinking of selling it off as a housing estate. We decided to kill two birds with one stone and make an offer."

The plot was overlooked by hills and mountains to the south and east, but the views to the north and west over Loch Leven and Loch Linnhe and the mountains beyond were open and spectacular. The land was acquired for £60,000.

"Though we never wrote anything down, we knew what we didn't want," Laurence recalls. "We were interested in something a little unusual."

He had been particularly impressed by a friends timber frame in the area. "When they put the cooker on, they had to turn the boiler off. The thermal efficiency was amazing.

Having lived in the cramped confines of the staff bungalow, the Youngs immediately decided that they wanted a sense of space, starting with a large kitchen which could be used as a family living room. This room would have to take advantage of the view.

The living room itself would also have to be large, preferably with split-levels so that various family activities could take place simultaneously.

The Youngs didn't want a dining room as such, but they did want a dramatic entrance hall, going up through the house, which could also be used as a dining area, particularly for large family gatherings at Christmas and other times.

All the bedrooms must have a view, and there should be a means of adding en-suite facilities in the future to those bedrooms which did not already have them. This was to allow the possibility of eventually converting the house to bed-and-breakfast accommodation.

Looking ahead again, the house should also include a self-contained granny/nanny flat. Finally, there should be ample storage space throughout. Laurence and Morag had three children at the time. Two more were to follow.

The requirements for views from all the bedrooms and the main living areas resulted in a long, narrow building with the utility areas, throughways and main entrance tucked away in the back. The main entrance was given extra weather protection from the harsh Argyll winters by external "cloisters" and an inner vestibule, which also provided storage space for coats and boots.

The galleried entrance hall beyond with its ceiling-high windows was as dramatic as the Youngs could have expected and gave an immediate impression of space. This could easily be transformed into a large, attractive dining area. A focus for the room was provided by a fireplace, which ingeniously shared a flue with the house's oil-fired condensing boiler concealed behind it in an understair cupboard.

The same theme of space was repeated in the sunken, octagonal living room with windows on three sides, and in the master bedroom directly above it.

The windows were of traditional Scottish design, echoing those of the hotel, as did the house's three towers.

The two towers at the front were decorative features, and have since become convenient storage areas to bedrooms, while the largest tower at the rear housed a spiral staircase, effectively turning the granny flat into separate two-storey, two or three bedroomed accommodation,. The Youngs now use this part of the house for temporary accommodation for staff.

The turrets on the house - a characteristic of Ian Scott-Watson's designs - stayed.

True to his interest in thermal efficiency, Laurence opted for the maximum insulation allowed by the design - 140mm of glassfibre in the walls and 200mm in the top storey ceilings. The external doors would all be double-glazed, weather-sealed Swedors, and the windows would be 20mm double glazed with low E glass.

A build price for the house of £170,000, including the cost of the kit, was established with a projected construction time of 17 weeks.

The house was completed in just 23 weeks.

Are the Youngs satisfied?

Laurence now concedes the entrance hall is "rather extravagant - the space could have been used for an extra room". The kitchen could also have used more space.

Morag agrees. "We only tend to use the family room in the last couple of hours of the day," she says. "What we may do in the future is incorporate part of the entrance to it into the kitchen area."

Laurence also continues to worry about the thermal efficiency of the house - something he freely admits remains "a fetish".

Heating bills have worked out at around £100 a month. But as Morag points out mildly, "this is a large house".