The magnificent Cashel Estate has come to the market, a true Scottish paradise.
Towering mountains, breathtaking views, wild hillsides and epic swathes of peat moorland, where deer, pine martens, otters, eagles and red squirrels share the land with the walkers and ramblers who come to enjoy the landscape. The Cashel Estate, it’s fair to say, isn’t your usual property.
This 3,068 acre (1,241 hectare) estate is a totally unspoilt stretch of Scotland, at the heart of the Loch Lomond & The Trossachs National Park. After three decades of care in the hands of the Cashel Forest Trust, it’s now seeking new ownership to help take it on. And that means there’s an opportunity for someone to come in and cherish a glorious and beautiful place just a short drive from Glasgow. Offers over £4,085,000 are asked for the whole, but the sellers are happy to split the property into five different lots, ranging in price from £60,000 to £2.25 million.
At the heart of those lots is Cashel Farm, the £725k Lot 1, a relatively small parcel of land on which stands the four-bedroom farmhouse and visitor centre, a popular spot with day trippers, and a modest source of income for the owners (the car park alone apparently brings in around £8,000 a year).
There is grassland, picnic areas, footpaths, bridges and woodland within the 105 acres, and while the property doesn’t stretch as far as the shore of Loch Lomond itself, it does include the right to launch a single boat onto the water, along with riparian fishing rights. (A nearby hydro electric station isn’t part of the property, but an interest in its revenue is for sale as Lot 5.)
The farmhouse needs a bit of modernising, but for those with more of an appetite for work and risk, Lot 2 offers a fascinating opportunity at £750k. It comprises almost 350 acres of mixed native woodland, with stunning views, huge diversity of nature and a series of streams and footpaths. There are also, and this is our favourite part of the listing, ‘at least two’ unlisted, ruined farm steading houses on the land.
The idea that there may be others which have simply been reclaimed by Nature is almost too romantic to bear; the more hard-headed business types, of course, will probably jump on to the possibility that where a house stands, no matter its condition, there’s a reasonable chance of repair, renovation and even replacement being an option. Immediately adjacent, Lot 3 offers another potential income source: priced at offers over £60,000, this 16-acre pasture, surrounded by woods, is noted by the agents to have ‘potential for change of use’ subject to the relevant permissions, and given its proximity to the waterfront ‘there is scope for a range of leisure uses’.
The true romantics will be captivated by Lot 4, Beinn Bhreac Hill, which makes up the lion’s share of the land (nearly 2,600 acres), the wildest and hilliest part of the estate, offering the best of the views. It’s more than just a grand slice of Scotland to call your own, though: there is some montane planting and peatland restoration which should, in time, lead to signification potential for carbon credits.
Beyond the peat restoration, conservation is a strong pull for anyone interested in the Cashel Estate, especially for those who love the idea of woodland generation. Large scale planting of native woodland is well established these days, but 30 years ago, it was a concept that had barely taken root; the Cashel Estate was one of the pioneers in the late 1990s. An extensive planting and restoration programme — including oak, birch, ash, aspen, alder, gean, hazel, holly, juniper, willow and Scots pine — has left it with around 750 acres of native woodland, which stand alongside significant areas of ancient oak.
Taking these conservation efforts even further is part of the reason for the sale, explains Nander Robertson, operations director of Cashel Forest Trust. ‘We are immensely proud of the woodland we have created at Cashel, transforming it over 25 years from a bracken covered farm into the stunning amenity it is today. This has only been made possible with the unstinting support of volunteers, funders and trustees.
‘However, we feel we have taken it as far as we can. We hope stewardship will pass to a buyer who will be equally passionate about this land and build on the conservation work carried out to date. We are looking for a custodian who will further enhance this legacy and protect it for the future.’
See more about the Cashel Estate sale at the Goldcrest website, or find out more about the estate itself at www.cashel.org.uk.
