Bright and spacious home in Scottish Highlands with a large garden

Description

Our home is ideal for someone looking for a peaceful home in a beautiful nature. It provides bright, warm and generous space with views over the garden to the surrounding hills. The unusual spatial arrangement allows for an open living spaces over three distinct levels. The living room and bedroom upstairs, and kitchen and dining room downstairs, open to the large garden on the west side of the house, while three of the bedrooms are located in the east part, facing towards a smaller garden. There is an underfloor heating throughout, complemented by a wood burning stove in the living room. We like to listen to the rain gently resonating throughout the house, with high sloped roof forming the ceiling shaped as in an old barn - from which this house takes an architectural inspiration. Four bedrooms provide for eight people: queen bed; 3 single beds; 1 single bed; double bed. Two of the en-suite bedrooms have a desk and can therefore be used as a study. There is also a large table under the windows in the living room, which our children use for writing and drawing. Part of the house is a workshop/studio which can be used for various projects, or adjusted for different purposes. Piano, various other musical instruments, scores and books available. The kitchen is fully equipped, with induction hob, oven and fridge. The round table in the dining room can sit up to eight people. The garden is dominated by an old monumental sycamore tree, and includes small burn and a pond, stone circle fireplace and wildflower meadows. We have planted over a hundred trees, and experiment with growing some fruit and vegetables. In the early mornings the air is full of the sounds of birds and red squirrels, hares and pheasants often visit the grounds. In the evenings the sound of the burn behind the garden walls complements the views of sun setting over the hills, and at nights the stars reveal the depth of the sky – if the magnificent Scottish clouds don't intervene. The Barn House is part of a small settlement around an old farm, situated on the south-facing slope of the Tay valley in the vicinity of Aberfeldy, Scotland. Walking up the hill from the house it is possible to wonder for hours in the wilderness of the Highlands, while a short walk down to the valley follows river westwards to Loch Tay and through Aberfeldy to Dunkeld in the other direction. There are many waterfalls, rivers, lakes and forests to explore, including the mountain massif around Glen Lyon and the glacier landscape of Ranoch Moor. Both Scottish national parks - Cairngorms and Trossachs - are within one hour drive. Train station in Dunkeld-Birnam provides connection to all Scottish cities - Edinburgh and Glasgow are around 90 minutes away - as well as overnight train, Caledonian Sleeper, to London. Aberfeldy is a town of around two thousand inhabitants formed around the banks of river Tay. It offers excellent cultural, community and market infrastructure, including medical centre, dentists and opticians, primary and secondary school, library and large sport centre as part of community campus, complemented by Birks Cinema with Heartland Film Society, Watermill Bookshop and Gallery, Glen Lyon Coffee Roasters, and a wide range of other independent cafes and restaurants, as well as several nature adventure companies. Nearby communities offer additional opportunities, including Birnam Arts Centre and a wonderful second-hand bookshop Birnam Reader; Dunkeld community garden and orchard, Corbenic community store, Aran Bakery and Redwoods Wines, and Little Trochry organic farm; Pitlochry Festival Theatre and Scottish Plant Hunters Garden, with a collection of plants from all around the world; and various natural and heritage sites, such as iron age Crannnog Centre on Loch Tay, and ospreys at Scottish Wildlife Trust's Loch of the Lowes. There is also sailing club at Loch Tummel, about 20 minute drive, passing community woodland Dùn Coillich.