The private island in Scotland for sale with 660 acres, ancient ruins and its very own ferry
With some properties it’s hard to know where to start,' we wrote in July of Inchmarnock, a spectacularly pretty 660-acre island in the Firth of Clyde, offering private island life just 40 miles as the crow flies from Glasgow.
One of the most incredible privately-owned homes in Britain'
Our property correspondent Penny Churchill has seen it all in her many years with Country Life — yet she was still clearly caught up in the excitement about this place in Dorset: 'The glories of Athelhampton House and its 29 acres of exquisite formal and informal gardens bounded by the River Piddle, are too numerous to list here,' she wrote, before doing her best to do exactly that.
The fine farmhouse in a heartbreakingly pretty spot on the Isle of Arran
We realised, when writing this piece, that it would be easy to be swayed by the gorgeous, sunny day on which the images of this waterside house were taken. 'Yet since when does anyone buy a house thinking about how it’ll be at its worst?' we wrote. 'Instead, let’s focus on the joys of this five-bedroom family home, set in 32 acres of land, and for sale via Savills at a price which will make city dwellers weep: £650,000.'
A nine-bedroom castle in Scotland for sale at just £400,000
The historic stronghold of the Gordon clan came up for sale this year — but as you might have guessed by the price, it was not a project for the uninitiated: 'It's the challenge — and the opportunity — of a lifetime' we reported.
Your own loch and 65 acres of Scottish countryside for the price of small flat on the outskirts of London
The headline was absolutely honest: just £250,000 was the price tag of this magnificent little property in Perthshire. 'The house needs some updating, but at this price, how could one say no,' we wrote. It sold soon after.
The 20-bedroom, £500,000 castle: What happened next
A bit of a departure from our normal property coverage, for this piece we looked back at the work that went on at Ribbesford House after it went up for auction with a guide price of just £500,000. The brothers who took it on had a fascinating tale to tell.
Devon’s grandest mansion', a Grade I-listed home with an eight-figure price
Mamhead House's ups-and-downs intrigued Penny Churchill when she wrote about Mamhead, as she detailed its years as everything from a grand country home to offices. There is work to do, she concluded, but it is 'an opportunity to preserve and enhance a unique estate that has remained, quite magnificently, untouched by time.'
A house with a floorplan that's 'like a Cluedo board designed by Picasso'
There was a reason the main image of this house was taken from some distance, and through trees: there is a LOT of work to do. But a 10-bedroom house awaits whoever takes it on — agents Strutt & Parker are still looking for the right person.
A Cotswolds estate 'the likes of which may never be seen again'
Lower Court Farm may not have had a name to get the pulse racing, but it was an 'extraordinary piece of land in a prime Cotswolds location, which offers as great an opportunity as Penny Churchill can remember.'
Why those ‘win a house for £10’ raffles should come with a health warning
And finally, a piece not so much about a house as a piece about this unusual method of 'selling' a property. The moral of this story turned out to be one of the oldest in the book: if it sounds too good to be true, it probably is.
Credit: Strutt and Parker
Best country houses for sale this week
An irresistible West Country cottage and a magnificent Cumbrian country house make our pick of the finest country houses for
Spectacular Scottish castles and estates for sale
A look at the finest castles, country houses and estates for sale in Scotland today.
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Graham Norton's elegant East London home hits the market, and it's just as wonderful as you would expectThe four-bedroom home in Wapping should be studied for how well it uses two separate spaces to create a home of immense character and utility.
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Sign of the times: In the age of the selfie, what’s happening to the humble autograph?When Ringo Starr announced that he was no longer going to sign anything, he kickstarted a celebrity movement that coincided with the advent of the camera phone and selfie. Rob Crossan asks whether, in today’s world, the selfie holds more clout than an autograph?
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Graham Norton's elegant East London home hits the market, and it's just as wonderful as you would expect
The four-bedroom home in Wapping should be studied for how well it uses two separate spaces to create a home of immense character and utility.
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About time: The fastest and slowest moving housing markets revealedNew research by Zoopla has shown where it's easy to sell and where it will take quite a while to find a buyer.
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A wisteria clad hall built by one of the founders of the Bank of EnglandCome for the history of Old Hall. Stay for the interesting interiors.
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A gorgeous Scottish cottage with contemporary interiors on the bonny banks of the River TayCarnliath on the edge of Strathtay is a delightful family home set in sensational scenery.
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Six rural properties with space, charm and endless views, as seen in Country LifeWe take a look at some of the best houses to come to the market via Country Life in the past week.
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380 acres and 90 bedrooms on the £25m private island being sold by one of Britain's top music producersStormzy, Rihanna and the Rolling Stones are just a part of the story at Osea Island, a dot on the map in the seas off Essex.
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A home cinema, tasteful interiors and 65 acres of private parkland hidden in an unassuming lodge in KentNorth Lodge near Tonbridge may seem relatively simple, but there is a lot more than what meets the eye.
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A rare opportunity to own a family home on Vanbrugh Terrace, one of London's finest streetsThis six-bedroom Victorian home sits right on the start line of the London Marathon, with easy access to Blackheath and Greenwich Park.
