The glistening tidal waters of Loch Goil are part of daily life at Blairlomond. The idyllic five-bedroom Argyll cottage is right on the banks of the long narrow sea loch, and has a private boathouse and mooring and unrestricted access to the foreshore, not to mention wonderful unspoilt views from practically every window.
In his time spent there since buying the Victorian house with his wife Chloe in 2016, private chef Gerald Harrison has done his best to enjoy regular morning swims, no matter the season. “In winter the water temperature dips down to around three degrees,” he says. “In the summer it goes up to maybe 15 or 16. I wear a wetsuit a lot of the time, but sometimes I can do it in just trunks.”
For a while, Harrison’s son attended primary school in the nearby village of Lochgoilhead. It’s about five minutes away by car — although they found a much more enjoyable way to travel. “We would take him by boat,” Harrison recalls. “It was so much fun.”
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Harrison is Scottish but has lived outside the country for 20 years — he and his family are principally based in the south of France. They bought Blairlomond, he says, “because I wanted to have a place that was sort of in the motherland, if you like. And I wanted somewhere that was on the water.” It was initially intended to be just a holiday home, but when they went there for their first winter in 2016, they ended up staying for the next two and a half years.
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While living at Blairlomond, they poured an untold amount of time, effort and money into doing the place up and trying to make every improvement as unique and characterful as possible. Take the downstairs en suite bedroom, for example — which is effectively a guest annexe. It features an incredible Edwardian cast-iron bathtub with canopy shower, made by Shanks and Co of Barrhead. “I think there are only six of them in existence,” Harrison notes. The heavy wooden door to the toilet cubicle originates from an old mental hospital in Edinburgh, and the double-sized ceramic sink from a previous incarnation of Polmont railway station.
The kitchen — naturally a sacred place to Harrison, given his line of work — features antique butcher’s chopping blocks in place of kitchen units and worktops, as well as an antique Belfast sink and a double-sized range cooker. A huge floor-to-ceiling cupboard in the corner containing the boiler and electric immersion heater has been rescued from mundane functionality with the addition of moulded rubber hand and foot grips, turning it into a mini climbing wall. It can take the weight of kids, and even some adults. “I wouldn’t put my 90kg on it,” Harrison says, laughing, “but my wife can easily climb on it.”
Despite being “besotted” with the place, Harrison has decided to put Blairlomond on the market, as he and his family just aren’t getting the same use out of it as they once did. They’ll fondly remember days happily whiled away messing about on the loch in boats or kayaks, or simply relaxing by the waterside in their log-fired hot tub. “It’s been much more than just a holiday place,” he says.
Offers over £525,000; robbresidential.com
