Forget a room with a view here's a home with a vista

TRADITIONALLY, the rural property market kicks off in mid to late March but this year, the late spring combined with foot-and-mouth has meant that properties have come on the market much later. Despite this late start, indications so far suggest a continuing buoyant market as result of high property prices in Glasgow, Edinburgh and south east England.

Always high in the popularity stakes, Perthshire properties are at a premium now that home working has increased demand beyond established commuter areas. While accessibility is still important to buyers, amenities, privacy and views are high priorities and the dearth of good properties continues to strengthen the market.

It is rare, however, that such a special propertie as Clach Mhor in St Fillans should appear on the market at any time. It is a much- loved family home with a view so breathtaking that you can safely confine the televison to the attic.

After living in Clach Mhor for nearly 15 years, Charles Lamb says it is the view from the sitting room that he will miss most. From its elevated position on the western edge of the lochside village of St Fillans, the house is a natural viewpoint looking over Loch Earn and the surrounding hills.

Although Clach Mhor has been designed to make the most of the remarkable views with almost all the rooms facing south, it is the sitting room that makes the house so special. Sliding doors and windows running the full length of the south wall give the impression that the room is suspended above the loch.

Now that the Lambs' grown-up children are leaving home, they feel that Clach Mhor "deserves a family". Charles Lamb insists that the house has its own feel-good factor. "Some houses are just like that; you walk in and know that this is it. In fact this is the only house we looked at."

Clach Mhor, Gaelic for "big rock", was named after the rock embedded in the ground opposite the front door. The house was previously used as a holiday home by an oil millionaire. Although passionate about Clach Mhor, he had to sell up, as his wife had a childhood horror of water. With its room with a view and eastern boundary burn which has a spectacular torrent in winter, Clach Mhor was no relaxing retreat for her.

Dating from the 1960s, the house offers spacious family living over three levels, comprising: sitting room, dining room, kitchen, five bedrooms (one en suite), two dressing rooms, bathroom, shower room, cloakroom and integral garage. The Lambs are especially proud of their garden as when they moved into Clach Mhor it was a wilderness of bracken. Today there are landscaped terraced gardens extending to an acre with flowering shrubs and trees. The Lamb family also lease an area of foreshore from Drummond Estates.

As for the village itself, "Earth holds no fairer spot than St Fillans" is no estate agent's gush but a quote from the book The Annuls of St Fillans. St Fillans is easily accessible from all directions and offers a primary school, hotels, golf course, leisure facilities and village shop. Eleven miles to the east, Crieff, Strathearn's capital and erstwile home of Ewan MacGregor, offers a full range of services including Morrisons Academy and Adrvreck Preparatory School. Perth and Stirling are both within easy reach and Edinburgh and Glasgow are 90 minutes' drive away.

Offers are invited in excess of #280,000. Call Suzanne Black at Bell Ingram Rural on 01783 621121 for more information.

Copyright 2001
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