My parents got the house when they moved to Scotland from Belgium, where my father had worked for 13 years at the Von Karman Institute, becoming professor of aeronautical engineering.
It is a six-bedroom Victorian red sandstone house built in 1850. A matching extension by the architect Alexander Pattison was added in 1922, then a two-car garage with a paved driveway was built at the back. My parents have continuously redecorated it, keeping it in its former glory.
Recently they added a conservatory with a patio on a part of the garden that was difficult to access, opening up the house and bringing a wonderful light into the living room and the kitchen.
Not that they spent all their time working on the house, because we were always out and about, either walking or sailing. My parents took out a family membership to the sailing club when we moved to Helensburgh, so we spent a lot of time down there pottering with boats. My parents had met while sailing and so they introduced all four of their children to it; I have one sister and two brothers.
I can’t remember the first time I went out on a boat, but I do have early memories of sailing, including going out on my own, which I started doing when I was quite young. I do sailing masterclasses for the HSBC Education Trust, and after one day a child can be out on a boat on their own. It’s amazing how quickly they can learn.
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As we grew up, a favourite pastime was to sail out to the wreck of a sugar boat in the Firth of Clyde. I don’t know how many miles away it was, but it was a good old sail in a small boat.
As well as six bedrooms, the house has two reception rooms, a kitchen, a study for dad, a utility room and a cloakroom, and a walk-in larder and pantry. It is a classic, big old-fashioned house, with the utility room by the back door so you can hang up all your sailing gear and kick off your muddy wellies. It has a big sink, washing machine and dryer. Further on is my father’s study and beyond that, the kitchen. Of the two reception rooms, still on the ground floor, one was kept smart for visitors, while the other was our television lounge room, which was usually full of magazines, newspapers and throws. It was the lived-in room, with comfortable sofas.
A long staircase takes you up to the first floor. At the top, on the left was my bedroom and my parents’, plus a bathroom and an airing cupboard. Straight ahead was one of my brother’s rooms, while right, you’d reach my other brother’s bedroom and my sister’s, the spare room and a large bathroom. Two of these bedrooms have since been fitted with en-suite facilities, making space from an adjoining storage room. At the top of the stairs, a big stained-glass ceiling window throws lots of lovely light on the landing.
Above our rooms is a big loft where some bats took up residence when I was about 10. They were very cute, like baby mice with wings.
My room in the flat I stayed in when I was at university was a homage to sailing, but in Helensburgh my bedroom was your regular, pink-flowers-on-the-wall kid’s bedroom.
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In Glasgow, I lived in a flat owned by my parents, who bought it as an investment. It allowed me to live in the city rent-free. It wasn’t a regular student residence, in that it was very well maintained and furnished.
Our house in Helensburgh is also well-maintained and furnished, but it is one of those houses where you can’t avoid creaky floorboards, squeaky doors and wind whistling through the windows.
The house is surrounded by a beech hedge and has elegant wrought-iron gates. After school, we’d play in the garden. At the weekend, it was either sailing or climbing hills. In the garden, there was a massive copper beech tree in the middle, which was our climbing tree, where we have a swing set up.
Interview by Mike Wilson