This Edition’s Unique Property Feature:-
“Events Dear Boy, Events”
Significant Progress To Buying An Island
Tanera Mòr Island
Photograph Courtesy of Mr Chris Prior
Update – 24 January 2016: Click Here.
Map of Tanera Mòr Island (c) Ashworth Maps & Interpretation Ltd
DO NOT SCALE MAP: ILLUSTRATIVE PURPOSES ONLY
Feature details at the foot of this page.
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======= Regular Bulletin Listings Now Follow =======
Grand Designs £5,000!
Straw Structures – Part way built at Grand Designs Live!
In case you are new to the Unique Property Bulletin, each fortnight on a Sunday we produce a fresh Bulletin edition. Starting with the more economic type of place to the more exotically priced. We do our very best to cover all areas of the country, and every style of taste.
With this in mind, the first listing in this week’s main section of the Bulletin is a diminutive straw house. The picture above shows one of these straw buildings being built at Grand Designs Live. This structure, or rather one of very similar specification can now be bought via Clive Emson Auction.
An energy efficient straw bale building, suitable as an office, guest room, studio or teenage crash pad etc. This can (subject to planning if required) be located in your garden or near your premises. It can be used all year round with little or no heating, unlike most other types of garden building. It is built to a high standard with natural materials including straw bale walls, sheep wool, wood fibre board, insulated roof and floor. The clay and lime plasters, being made of natural materials, create a healthy atmosphere with no toxic gases and as it is insulated to a high standard it will keep cool in the summer and warm in the winter, as long as you face it south. Externally the building measures approximately 4.2m by 3.2m and is approximately 3.2m high. At present the straw building is unfinished and requires some clay plaster inside and an external finish of lime render. The building was constructed last year at the Grand Designs Live in London and was moved on a low loader to Suffolk where is it residing temporarily.
Click On The Photo Above To Watch The Grand Designs Straw House Big Build
Most importantly, if you are considering one of these straw structures on a Grand Design television programme scale, this modest £5,000 version might be a very good idea for a dry run.
Location: Delivered To Your Door – Please Email For Delivery Quote: Manufactured & Ex-Suffolk.
Guide: £5,000
Further Details: Click Here
Contact: Clive Emson Auctions Tel: 01245 205778 – Paul Bridgeman or Martin Hardy. PLEASE can you mention to the estate agent that you saw this property on the Unique Property Bulletin website. Thank you.
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Affordable Unique…
Making £500,000 Price More Digestible At £79,000 Per House
Views of Rattray Head Lighthouse – A Beautiful Location & 11 Miles of Beaches
Mainland Station Compound Lighthouse Cottages For Sale
Starting FROM £79,000
Whether you are looking to buy a unique property for investment and holiday rental return (plus nice holidays yourself when the former lighthouse keepers’ houses aren’t rented and have a vacant spell), or you are looking to escape the rat-race and live permanently in a splendid location with, for example 11 miles of beaches and divine sea views, then this may just be for you.
We have 2 places left from the 5 on the proposed Rattray Head Lighthouse Station syndicate. Please note the lighthouse TOWER is NOT for sale – it is the shore-side station close to the lighthouse that is being sold off.
Location: Lighthouse Cottages, Rattray Head, Rattray, Peterhead, Aberdeenshire. AB42 3HA.
Guide – Starting From £79,000 per Former Lighthouse Keeper’s House. Ideal for investment/buy-to-let, or as a beautiful home location.
Further Details: Click Here
Contact: Click Here
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Banking On A Home-Office
The Old Bank, The Cross, Bromborough, Wirral
We often have over 100 emails a day here at Unique Property Bulletin. For which we are grateful. It is always a delight to have so many friendly and like-minded folk to correspond with and work together towards finding interesting places to live. A regular theme is the desire of our readers’ to find an unusual place where they can live AND work from. So here is a possible candidate property (subject to planning consents etc).
This old bank in Wirral may not seem an instant type of building for an unusual home, but we have bought and experienced an old bank, and they are filled with character – so we would heartily recommend it. Not quite the same aroma as a converted distillery, but there is still the faintest scent of old fivers in the air, which can be an interesting acquired taste.
So what do we have here? Well an old bank which may, subject to planning, make a productive mixed use project. A home and a home-office to work out of. Best of both worlds. We’ve tried this style of life and it is very good. Kind of returning to the old fashioned idea of living above the shop.
Location: The Old Bank, The Cross, Bromborough, Wirral, Merseyside, CH62 7HQ
Guide: £90,000
Further Details: Click Here
Contact: Roy Pugh Auctions – 0844 2 722444. PLEASE can you mention to the estate agent that you saw this property on the Unique Property Bulletin website. Thank you.
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Church For Sale
With Full Planning For 4 Bed House Conversion
Our Lady of the Valley Church, Darvel, East Ayrshire
A very nice opportunity to acquire this former church which has full planning permission for conversion to a 5 bedroom residence.
Located within the heart of the popular village of Darvel. This project has the makings of a stunning family home within a generous plot.
Location: Our Lady of the Valley Church, West Donington Street, Darvel, East Ayrshire, KA17 0AP.
Guide: Offers Over £70,000
Further Details: Click Here
Contact: Click Here
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Signal Box Conversion
The Signal Box, Copley Lane, Shelley
An old signal box with a new life as a 4 bedroom home set in approximately one acre of land, with off street parking. This interesting piece of railway heritage has been converted and rebuilt to modern standards. The Signal Box is situated in glorious tranquil West Yorkshire countryside yet not too far away from activity in Shelley village, recently nominated ‘Village of the Year’ in a national competition.
Click On The Photo Above To Watch The Video
One of the delights with this old signal box conversion is it’s proximity to the Kirklees Light Railway and the delight’s of a heritage narrow gauge railway to visit when it has Gala Days for tourists, visitors and residents of the village.
Kirklees Light Railway – Approaching Shelley Station (c) 2015 Nigel Homer
The Beeching railway cuts in the 1960s may have been brutal, but from the closed-down railway stations, and miles of unused railway tracks, there has been a wonderful resurgence of small heritage railways to bring life back, and awake the old abandoned railway beds from their sleepers.
It is also really nice to see the cohesive effect these little railways are having on local communities.
Location: The Signal Box, Copley Lane, Shelley, West Yorkshire, HD8 8LZ
Guide: £325,000
Further Details: Click Here
Contact: 07752174155 – David Gillooley. PLEASE can you mention to the estate agent that you saw this property on the Unique Property Bulletin website. Thank you.
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EMAIL ALERTS
If you would like a reminder email each fortnight once each new Unique Property Bulletin goes online, please feel free to join our ALERT list. Just…
Click Here For Email Alert’s For Each New Unique Property Bulletin
…fill in the brief form typing the Subject Header with the simple word “ALERT” and we will do the rest 🙂
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Bulletin Fishing!
Today’s Landing – From Way Back When…
Also Saving You At Least £76,000
The Old Tower, Stede Hill, Harrietsham, Maidstone, Kent
Welcome to our new and regular element in the Bulletin. A review of past issues to see what is still for sale, and if there has been any tasty reduction in price. The edition we have something from 5 months ago. Still for sale, but with £76,000 so far shaved off of the guide price.
The Old Tower is a relatively utilitarian – though with a slight architectural grandeur – for the water tower frontage. But there is so much more to this 1903 build edifice than we have pictured. Simply put we recommend Bulletin readers click the weblink below and look at the lovely photographs which illustrate the time, love and care in this exquisite transformation.
Close Up – The Old Tower, Stede Hill, Harrietsham, Maidstone, Kent
The conversion and additions provide a reception room, master bedroom with delightful views, bathroom and further bedroom/study. The seller has created a fine single storey addition to the rear linked by a stunning full height entrance hall with spiral staircase. There is a large open plan kitchen/sitting/dining room with feature curved wall and feature glass corner wall. The units are from Germany. There are two further bedrooms and a bathroom. This really is a one off opportunity located on the highly sought-after Stede Hill.
Location: The Old Tower, Stede Hill, Harrietsham, Maidstone, Kent, ME17 1NR
Guide: Was: £1,075,000. Now: £999,000
Further Details: Click Here
Contact – Knight Frank Tel: 01732 744 477 – George Berry.
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Suffolk Signalling
Part Of The Former RAF Bawdsey Manor Estate
A Little Piece of East Anglian History: Birth of The Beam
Picturesque Quayside House & Historic Location – River Deben, Suffolk Coastal
Anyone who has purchased a copy of our Unique Property Manual will have read how close the unique property syndicates came to buying the wonderful Suffolk coastal estate at Bawdsey in the 1990’s. This site is amazing on so many levels. The former RAF Bawdsey is where RADAR was pioneered during WWII. Not to mention a significant role in the creation of the National Telephone Company in 1881 – forerunner to the GPO which subsequently became British Telecom. The whole site at Bawdsey is still in our hearts. A fascinating account of RAF Bawdsey is brought to life in the book: Bawdsey, Birth of the Beam.
Old Quay Cottages & The Former RAF Bawdsey & Towers
Protecting Britain In WWII
In more contemporary times, the former RAF Bawdsey was featured in the television “Restoration” series in relation to the historic role that RADAR had on WWII.
Bawdsey Manor Estate – The Old WWII RADAR Towers Gone But The History Remains
Photograph Courtesy of Mr Keith Evans
It isn’t just the natural beauty, and evocative buildings, but the location gifts a way of life that is sublime for those readers who love living by the sea. There is even a fine wee passenger boat that crosses the River Deben to the picturesque Felixstowe Ferry.
There Are Roads To The Old Quay Cottage, But The Boat Across The Deben Is Delightful
Photograph Courtesy of Mr Keith Evans
From The Sky: The True Beauty Of This Location Can Be Appreciated
So what do we present today?
A small piece of this former base – one of the quayside cottages, formerly for the staff who worked on the estate. Now a modernised and pretty house, with access to all sorts of beauty and recreation, whether running, fishing, windsurfing, canoeing, or beachcombing.
A bright and airy cottage in a wonderful quayside position overlooking the River Deben.
For sale is Number 1 Quay Cottage – a traditional, period, end of terrace house. Recently renovated. On the ground floor are two double bedrooms, both en-suite. On the first floor, an open-plan sitting area, dining area and kitchen which lead to a south-facing balcony overlooking the River Deben and beyond to the sea. There is an enclosed lawned front garden and off-street parking for two cars.
Location: 1 Quay Cottages, Bawdsey Quay, Ferry Road, Woodbridge, Suffolk, IP12 3AY
Guide: £375,000.
Further Details: Click Here
Contact – Bedfords Agency Tel: 01394 821030 – PLEASE can you mention to the estate agent that you saw this property on the Unique Property Bulletin website. Thank you.
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Previous Unique Property Competition
May & June 2015: The Answer
A thank you to one of our favourite readers, and fellow property eccentrics – Sam – who came up with a good suggestion. That we let folk know the answer to competitions. Dozily we hadn’t even reckoned this might be of interest. Almost 4 years of online competitions and we are finally getting around to remedying this. So here is the answer to the last competition’s guess the location photo of a very obscure brick building with the cryptic clue…
“An Iconic View – But Not Too Far”
This is of course a reference to the film A Bridge Too Far.
The Forth Rail Bridge
The View From Our Competition Building: May & June 2015 (c) Unique Property Bulletin
Reverse-engineering the clue might have helped you find the location of the small building on the nearby shore that we featured as our competition quiz during May and June 2015. The view from that little building is of the Forth Rail Bridge – which has, incidentally just been awarded Unesco World Heritage status. Our congratulations to the two winners of this Unique Property Bulletin competition.
Whoever ends up with that unusual property (the small building, not the big bridge), will have one of the finest engineering views in the country. Genuinely iconic.
Now onto the next competition….
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Unique Property Competition
Current Competition…
For July + August 2015, the Unique Property Bulletin competition prize is a modest:-
Please Name The Location of This Unique Building…
The winner is the first drawn from our Competition Box on 31st August 2015.
Competition Hint
“Location Is A Mysteron Quiz For The Captain”
We are hoping to encourage the property sleuthing abilities each and every reader has with this edition’s competition. Best wishes and good luck from the Unique Property Bulletin Team
Email free entries to Unique Property Bulletin:-
Click Here For Competition Entry Contact Page
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Ackergill Tower For Sale
Ackergill Tower: A Truly Unique Home, Unique Lifestyle & Unique Livelihood
The original Ackergill Tower is believed to date from 1475 and over the centuries has been steeped in an interesting history – ‘tales to tell’ whilst ‘sipping a dram’ by the roaring fires. The current owners purchased Ackergill Tower in 2009 and have progressively improved and renovated the property, including the provision of additional accommodation in the adjacent former stables block.
All topped off with the creation of a superb conference/function facility for up to 200 guests. Ackergill Tower can operate as either a traditional country house hotel business, an exclusive use wedding or party venue or a corporate. Alternatively it has been utilised as a fine conference venue. The beauty of this remote location is enhanced by its accessibility – Wick Airport is only 5 minutes from Ackergill Tower, which, via either Aberdeen or Edinburgh, provides flight links to London and other airports.
The days are filled with dramatic visual beauty. The delights of the night sights are none too shabby either…
Ackergill Tower: Spectacular Nightime Views of The Aurora Borealis
Ackergill Tower Photograph Courtesy of Maciej Winiarczyk
The current owner’s website has lots of interesting detail…
www.amazingvenues.co.uk/ackergill-tower
Along with many nice photographs…
www.amazingvenues.co.uk/ackergill-tower/gallery/
Location: Ackergill Tower, Wick, KW1 4RG
Guide: Was £5,000,000 – Now £4,500,000.
Further Details: Click Here
Contact: Colliers Tel: 0131 240 7570 – Alistair Letham. PLEASE can you mention to the estate agent that you saw this property on the Unique Property Bulletin website. Thank you.
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Rose Castle & Peel Tower, Cumbria
Rose Castle, Dalston, Carlisle, Cumbria
Back in April, we promised to let readers know when Rose Castle was finally brought to market. At that time we had no firm details, nor a price. But one tenacious reader has kept an eye on the ball – or rather roses. She was kind enough to email and alert folk who would like to look at this amazing Cumbrian castle that is now for sale.
Rose Castle is a remarkable property with a fascinating history, occupying one of the finest positions in Cumbria. It has been home to the Bishops of Carlisle since 1233 and has been used as both a family home and for entertaining during that time
Rose Castle, Dalston, Carlisle, Cumbria
Lot 1: Grade I listed Castle with formal gardens and grounds, 2 cottages, farmhouse, modern and traditional farm buildings, farm cottage, 21.88 acres of arable and 17.26 acres of pasture. In all about 61.46 acres.
Rose Castle Farm is a productive and well equipped dairy farm. It is situated due north of Rose Castle and consists of a farmhouse, 3 bedroom cottage, steading with a range of traditional and modern buildings and productive agricultural land.
Lot 2: 33.68 acres of pasture, 39.7 acres of arable, 8.24 acres of woodland and fishing on the River Caldew. In all about 86.38 acres.
Lot 3: 14.80 acres of pasture, 19.92 acres of arable, 7.81 acres of woodland and fishing on the River Caldew. In all about 45.30 acres.
Location: Rose Castle, Dalston, Carlisle, Cumbria, CA5 7BZ
Guide: £2,950,000.
Further Details: Click Here
Contact: Knight Frank Agencies Tel: 0131 222 9600 – Ran Morgan. PLEASE can you mention to the estate agent that you saw this property on the Unique Property Bulletin website. Thank you.
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Architecturally Unique
Please note, each edition we feature the work of a unique architect. These properties are usually NOT currently for sale, but are included to help inspire readers as to the talent that abounds when a good architect’s mind meets the imagination of a unique property person, and something that little bit special is created by the synergy.
Endémico Resguardo Silvestre
The Ultimate Architect: Making A Square Shape Into A Magical Space
A very good friend of Unique Property Bulletin recently emailed the details of this visually captivating place and space across to us so we could share it with our readers.
Our friend’s recommendation: Javier Gracia – a talented architect who has managed to blend location, design and style of the most empirical of shapes into something much more than it might first appear – a square. It almost encapsulates the philosophy of “enough”. All that is needed to live a simple Zen like beauty and existence. There is something precious about these beautifully located, yet monastically simple dwelling spaces. Described as “economic architecture” it contains the essence of minimalism. The main commission by Gracia Studio Architects utilising these pods was for a unique hotel experience. Each individual detached room (en-suite) located in plenty of space and perched aside a hill with utterly beguiling views.
It doesn’t take a leap of the imagination to envisage these stylish pods designed by Javier Gracia gracing spectacular settings in places all around the world.
So Our Top & Commended Architects For This Unique Property Bulletin Are:-
Javier Gracia
Gracia Studio Architects
Please Click On The Picture Above To Watch A Video-Stills Presentation
Further Details:-
Gracia Studio Architects
6151 Progressive Ave. ,
Suite 200,San Diego,
California,
CA92154
Phone: USA 619-795-7864
Contact: Click Here
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Try Before You Buy
The property included within the try-before-you-buy section of the Unique Property Bulletin – is NOT for sale. Our endeavour is to provide a sample, and actual experience of what it would be like to live in any particular genre of unusual abode. This specific listing is for a short-stay break. Our offering for this edition are the:-
Picture Postcard Perfect
Weekend At A Moated Beauty
Braylsham Castle, Broad Oak, Heathfield, Sussex
Braylsham dates back to around 1260. The present Braylsham Castle was recreated in 1993 by Professor John Mew. It replicates the different periods of history faithfully, but at the same time provides some of the comforts of modern living. It has won many awards including the “Most Beautiful Home in Britain” in the new build section of the 2003 national television competition.
Location: Braylsham Castle, Broad Oak, Heathfield, Sussex TN21 8TY
Guide: Weekend Stay: accommodation, luxury facilities, butler, service, dinner and refreshments, along with tours. £500 per person for a couple, or £600 for a single visitor.
Further Details: Click Here
Contact: 01435 862045
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This Edition’s Unique Property Feature:-
“Events Dear Boy, Events”
Significant Progress To Buying An Island
Tanera Mòr Island (c) 2015 CKD Galbraith
Please Note – Events have overtaken this article.
For up to date details and news, please click here.
As a result of development the rest of the original article has been overtaken, and as a result we have deleted most of it so as to avoid any confusion as matters progress in 2016. Though the photographs are still relevant, so these remain.
Tanera Mòr – A Nice Detached House For Sale: On An Island By The Sea. Sublime
Seemingly remote – in modern day terms when millions of us jet off to France, Spain, the Med, America or Australia for holidays – the Island of Tanera Mòr is not really that far. Good air links to and from Inverness Airport and Aberdeen Airport provide very good connectivity. Whilst the most positive thing – and this is written by someone who has spent a considerable part of their life living and working on small islands, is the style of life.
As a youngster, neither I, nor my brothers watched much television. Instead of being glued to the gogglebox, we were usually outside playing on the water, or in the water, up the hill, climbing a mountain, or for my scary brother Chris, flying about in a paraglider thingy. Personally I preferred boats. Whatever pursuit lit your candle, the island always seemed to provide the vital spark. Plus that strange phenomenon – for some romantic, others psychological, and most it was physical – the fact that living on an island, you had that wonderful stretch of water to cross. For the big island it was via ferry. For the smaller islands, usually a little ferry served, but the likes of Ailsa Craig, it was excellent fun to provide your own transport…
Red Bay Built – Fast Rigid Inflatable ‘Rib’ Boats – Click Here
Tanera Mòr Island. Transport can be a lot of fun.
Modern & Comfortable: One of The Houses For Sale – Tanera Mòr Island
The webpage we have created for this has detailed information on it, and is updated as more becomes available…
Click Here For The Dedicated Tanera Mòr Island Webpage
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