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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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.
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Materials, textures, construction, expression: A Brutalist watch on your wristLuxury watchmakers are seeking to bridge the gap between two contrasting styles, with exciting results.
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A rare opportunity to own a family home on Vanbrugh Terrace, one of London's finest streets
This six-bedroom Victorian home sits right on the start line of the London Marathon, with easy access to Blackheath and Greenwich Park.
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A day walking up and down the UK's most expensive streetWinnington Road in Hampstead has an average house price of £11.9 million. But what's it really like? Lotte Brundle went to find out.
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Damon Hill's former home in Marbella is the perfect place to slow downThe glorious Andalusian-style villa is found within the Lomas de Marbella Club and just a short walk from the beach.
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A 327-acre estate in the heart of 'England’s Côte d’Or', with a 26,000sq ft Georgian style home at its heartStokes Hall in the Crouch Valley is an inspiring property looking for a new owner.
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Schreiber House, 'the most significant London townhouse of the second half of the 20th century', is up for saleThe five-bedroom Modernist masterpiece sits on the edge of Hampstead Heath.
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Is the 'race for space' officially over?During the lockdowns, many thought the countryside was the place to be. It seems many are now changing their minds.
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What's a 'wellness village' and will it tempt you back into the office?The team behind London's first mixed-use ‘wellness village’ says it has the magic formula for tempting workers back into offices.
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A mini estate in Kent that's so lovely it once featured in Simon Schama's 'History of Britain'The Paper Mill estate is a picture-postcard in the Garden of England.
