April 2022 brought us a long weekend, and some much needed down time form work. We scooted off to Essex to stay in 'The Hexagon', an amazing ex-radar tower with a viewing deck on the top floor. We were surrounded by tranquil fields, and could see far out across the wonderful and unusual Essex salt marshes - home to multitude birdlife and the Radio Caroline boat.
We visited the sublime Beth Chatto garden and John took part in the insane annual Maldon Mud Race. But in the evenings, as we watched the setting sun reflect red and orange off the last remaining buildings of the now defunct Bradwell nuclear power plant, thoughts of a future on the Outer Hebrides edged back into my mind. I can only think it was brought on by being near to the sea, nature on our doorstep, free time on our hands - breathing space.
So, I began Googling houses for sale on the Outer Hebrides and found that advertising of homes on the islands is a little sporadic, and not necessarily all in one place. Rightmove doesn't seem to cover it, and On The Market have some houses, but not all. There was a small but steady stream of properties on Hebrides Property Finder so I made an account and saved their website to our search bar for future browsing.
After a good trawl through all the property available at that time (about 10-20 houses in all) I found one that really stood out - I will call it simply Ballalan, so as not to be too specific about it's location. I think it is a good size property, a traditionally symmetrical 1.5 storey Scottish cottage and sympathetically extended. Most significantly it has a view over a loch, which was the all important factor, as long as the house had potential!
OK, so it needs some work, but I felt it was totally do-able! It was a great canvas to start with and I relished the chance to take a beautifully proportioned house with a stunning view and put our own stamp onto it, making it exactly what we wanted from the off, without feeling like I was just undoing someone else's recent work just because it wasn't quite to my taste.
Alright - so it needed a LOT of work - an overhaul of the roof was just the beginning, followed by probably rewiring, plumbing, stripping out and replacing insulation and plaster board, new fixtures and fittings throughout and then decorating and gardening. But, it could be perfect once we were finished. And the best thing of all? The price tag - a very reasonable offers over £55,000!
I excitedly showed John, who sceptically checked out Google Earth and Street View to peruse the local neighbourhood, which he declared unattractive and too remote. OK, it wasn't the most beautiful area, but I felt he was being dismissive only because he didn't share my dream of living in peace on the islands. He also then investigated the rough sale prices of other houses in that area and said that the glass ceiling of properties there, even once done up, would be approximately £150,000. I still thought the maths sounded good.
The real plus point about the Scottish property market is that every seller has to provide a Home Buyers Report - basically a surveyors report on the state of the building, giving recommendations about work to be carried out to rectify any defects, which are marked on a scale of 1-3, with 3 being the most severe. This is so helpful for buyers as it means you can asses the level of risk before getting too invested, and dismiss a property before you get emotionally attached. This house did not qualify for a report as it was classed as uninhabitable.
Undeterred I sent the link to my parents in excitement, thinking that they might share my vision - after all, they had done their own house overhaul when we were kids and so they know it can be done, and work out well.
They were as keen as John, telling me it was too soon to be looking at homes far faaaar away in Scotland, and that this was biting off more than we could chew right now. John agreed that this was too ambitious a project and that I should just forget it for now. I was a bit deflated to say the least. And, by the time I got round to looking longingly at it again a week later the house had sold, thus proving someone else saw the potential and took the gamble on it pretty sharpish.
Now that I'd seen this property the idea of living in Scotland was firmly lodged in my mind and, although I didn't know it yet, an obsession had begun. All I had to do was convince John...
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