900 acres of Scotland to call your own, with rivers, beaches and mountains, at the price of a two-bed flat in South London
A croft in north-west Scotland has come to the market that is 'the ideal place in which to escape modern life'.
One of the Country Life team is thinking of moving at the moment. They're looking for a bit more space, and a bit more greenery around them. Easy enough to find, but the catch? It has to be in London, please and thank you very much.
They're easy enough to find, if money is no object. How about this palatial wisteria-clad home on Wimbledon Common? Yours for £6.5 million, right close to the famous old windmill. If money is an object, things become tighter, bit it can still be done: the same agent, Savills are marketing this two-bedroom flat close by, almost on Wimbledon Common and with large communal gardens to boot, at £585,000.
The only thing is that once you get to that £600-odd-thousand price, your mind will surely start wondering what else you could get if you look just a little further out. How about a timber-clad village home in the Surrey Hills, for example? It needs work, but it's full of character.
If you're moving that far out though, why stop there? The same budget in the Notswolds fetches you a cottage that's thatched, detached and totally refurbished.
All fine options, to be sure. And yet, and yet... We're all just here on this big, watery rock spinning around the Sun and trying to live our one wild and precious life as best we can. And so there's a part of us all that knows we could do more; that greater adventures are out there, far beyond Wimbledon, West Horsley and Sudborough.
If you're looking for that adventure, we have it right here — it's called Bad Na Scalaig Croft, in Wester Ross, on the north-west of Scotland. It's in a spot as remote as you can get without toppling into the Atlantic Ocean. And it's for sale with a £600,000 price tag.
As you can see, the property that you're getting — a dilapidated gamekeeper's cottage with a corrugated roof — isn't really the selling point here.
What is the selling point is the 897.2 acres of pristine Scottish landscape that you'll get to call your own. Bordering the River Kerry, and taking in Loch Bad an Sgalaig and Dubh Loch, this croft is set amid the Wester Ross National Scenic Area, and is a veritable Highland playground.
'The dramatic mountains, rugged moorlands, lochs and rivers, for which the Highlands are so famous, makes Bad na Scalaig the ideal place in which to escape modern life,' as the agents Galbraith put it.
This is a spot that's as beautiful as it is remote — though while it's remote (this is a place which demands you get to Inverness and then keep going for another 70-odd miles), it's not at all cut off. The thriving town of Gairloch is just four miles away along the main A832, which passes by just a few hundred yards from the keeper's cottage.
That means you have easy access to Gairloch, with its shops, pubs and restaurants; and even the national railway network, from the Kyle of Lochalsh Line.
And while we're on practicalities, there's approval in place for a new access road and a bridge to make accessing Bad na Scalaig easier; and while no planning permission is in place to rebuild the cottage, the current owners have had plans draw up which they are willing to share. The potential is enormous.
There is, though, one huge caveat. This isn't an occasional summer retreat, or an Air BnB opportunity: this is crofting land, and that's more than just a name. It's regulated by the Crofting Commission, and comes with several responsibilities: you must be ordinarily resident at or within 20 miles of your croft; you must cultivate the croft, or else put it to 'another purposeful use'; and you must not neglect or misuse it.
In other words, this isn't just a whimsical dream for those with a £600,000 budget — it's a bona fide new life waiting for you. And while you could head for SW19, the Surrey Hills, or Northamptonshire, we can't think of a better way to spend that one wild and precious life.
Bad Na Scalaig Croft near Gairloch, Wester Ross, is for sale through Galbraith at offers over £600,000 — see more details.
