'One of Perthshire's most impressive country houses' has come up for sale — and it lives up to its reputation
Penny Churchill takes a look at Glencarse House, Perthshire, where it stands in 18.5 acres of glorious parklands and gardens.


In 1790, renowned Scottish architects Robert and James Adam designed Glencarse House in the Carse of Gowrie, a 20-mile stretch of fertile land on the north shore of the Firth of Tay between Perth and Dundee, for estate owner Thomas Hunter.
Listed Category C and still one of Perthshire’s most impressive country houses, handsome Glencarse House, set in 18½ acres of gardens and parkland looking south over farmland towards Fife on the south bank of the Firth of Tay, is for sale through Knight Frank and Rettie & Co for ‘offers over £2.15 million’.
In his book The Fair Land of Gowrie (Culross & Son, 1939), author Lawrence Melville describes Glencarse as it stood then: ‘The original mansion is of Adam design. It was greatly enlarged in the 19th and 20th centuries by the addition of wings in the east and west. Stone steps and the balustrade have been placed at the front and altogether the house has been completely modernised.’
It is further described as ‘a beautiful sheltered residence’ and the grounds as being ‘tastefully laid out… the trees embrace many rare specimens, some of which were imported many years ago from the Himalayas’.
During their 20-year tenure, the present owners have further modernised the house, which comes with a gate lodge and a courtyard of outbuildings and offers 15,874sq ft of living space on three floors, with a two-bedroom flat, stores and a wine cellar on the lower ground floor.
The accommodation includes, at ground-floor level, an entrance hall, three fine reception rooms, billiards room, family room, study and a 1930s hothouse/conservatory, with the principal bedroom suite, five further bedrooms and three bathrooms on the first floor, and a further two/three bedrooms and a family bathroom on the floor above.
Glencarse House is currently on the market via Knight Frank and Rettie & Co for offers over £2.15 million — see more pictures or enquire with the agents for further details.
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Credit: Strutt and Parker
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