Click On The Above Photo For A Video Taste Of This New TV Series

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 is:-

Oast & Toast B&B

Renville Oast, Bridge, Canterbury, Kent CT4 5AD

This edition’s try-before-you-buy genre sampling is a charming Oast B&B in Canterbury. A 150 year old Oast House that was used for drying hops in the brewery trade. Now fully converted to residential plus B&B use. The front of the Oast is a large barn, behind which are three round kilns, capped by white ventilation cowls.

An ideal few days away at this stylish retreat can give you some idea and inspiration of what Oast House and round room living is like. It may just spur you on to buy your own Oast House.

Guide: Single Occupancy Starts from £50 to: Click Here For Rates

Click Here For Online Brochure

Contact: Tel: 01227 830215

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Unique Property Bulletin Main Article

This Edition’s Feature

Personal

Plus Helping “If Only” Folk

Davaar Island. The First Island (c) MPL Communications Ltd.

Please forgive me. This edition is a little unusual. It’s personal. About the relationship between me and the Unique Property Bulletin, plus a little meandering off track. For those who speed-read and absorb content rapidly, this thesis is written in an unusual format…

Short, Medium & Long

After four years of writing here, electronically online, and over 20 years on old fashioned paper, it is an important lesson from this end to appreciate that, generally, we have three styles of literal reader – in speed reading terms. So, for the fast webpage scanner – “Short” – please trust me, and my promise that by signing the following petition you will help the Unique Property Bulletin continue. Thank you.

QE90 Petition: Please Click Here To Sign

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For the “Medium” page reader here we have a little more information. Albeit still in summary form. Last edition we placed a brief weblink and asked readers to sign the petition mentioned above. The essence is that after 25 years putting a Unique Property Bulletin together, personal disablement has resulted in a couple of near misses – Bulletin wise. We have had ups and downs before, and always come through. In fact since going online there has been an amazing, and near exponential increase in regular readership from 3,500 to 50,000 [75,000 if you include sister websites such as Lighthouses For Sale and  Grand Designs For Sale ]. Thanks in no small measure for very kind journalists featuring the occasional unique property from these pages.

But the past couple of years have been personally difficult due to having abused my body in a previous career – ending up with back surgery. One unsung hero is a friend who takes me to and from hospital for ongoing treatment etc. I wanted, in fact still want to say thank you to this fine friend. Jokingly I said he deserved a medal. Indeed his occupation merited one. Not for what he does in looking after a person with broken body parts and general humanity, but for professional decency. I was distressed to be told by the Fire Service that firefighters like my friend who should actually have been awarded a recognition for service given – The Queen’s Diamond Jubilee Medal, were left out because the emergency services were given a restricted number of such medals, and for many firefighters, they had simply “run out”!

The Queen’s Diamond Jubilee Medal. Running Out Of These Was Wrong

Not receiving an award that has been earnt through risking your life because the authorities had “run out” of them seems a sad reflection of modern times.

My friend asked me not to go any further. His response was the near perfect sentence regarding his vocation as a firefighter: “I don’t do it for medals”.

But my own personal stubbornness this end has often resulted in interesting things happening. The above is a tangential example of a theme: persistence and determination. The QE90 Medal petition weblinked in this section will hopefully say thank you to many people.

However, back on topic, and for those new to the Unique Property Bulletin, this voluntary, obscure, not-for-profit publication that shares information on unusual buildings with friends, colleagues and readers couldn’t help but buy one of these tasty, unique buildings in 1999. An accidental profit was made, and a large lump of that money went to create over 100 jobs in the following years: [Click Here]. In my philosophy, the job creation initiative was an interesting and positive result. Again tangential. But part of what goes to make the back-story of this publication.

Returning to this feature article. Without my friend helping keep a deteriorating writer of this website going with trips to the hospital bodyshop for running repairs, the Unique Property Bulletin would have either been sold or closed at the beginning of this year. Aye it was that close. So if for nothing else, please consider signing our petition:-

Please Click Here To Study The Petition

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The “Long” narrative element, for those with the more forensic desire to acquire information and detail and derive leisure and pleasure from reading a more fulsome narrative, here goes.

Thanks to all of you wonderful, marvellous and amazing readers, and I personally love every one of you, especially those who email in with interesting offsite dialogue – you, yes you helped us reach a milestone I never imagined possible. Over 1,000,000 page views since going online.

Our .ORG Bulletin Has 516,893 Page Views As At 15/2/2015 PLUS

Our .CO.UK Bulletin Has 491,172 Page Views As At 15/2/2015

516,893 + 491,172 = 1,008,065

Just Broken The 1,000,000th Page View Mark With Our Two Sister Websites

(Sister Websites Hosted On Separate Webservers To Avoid Any Downtime)

Our current readership level ranges between 30,000 to 50,000 depending on several measurements. The Bulletin IT chap, now sadly departed, had a complex internet algorithmic formula that if applied today would favour the 50,000. But the current writers here are self-confessed computer dinosaurs, and prefer to err on the 30,000 level. All of this is living proof that dotage doesn’t mean you are prevented from learning how to get online. Quite the reverse, and it is a nice thought that this may give hope to others in their 40s, and 50s etc., to consider learning how to utilise the wonders that the internet has to offer. Especially in, for example, realising your dreams: of buying that unique property you have in your mind’s eye. The internet revolution, with people being able to work remotely online and earn a living has certainly solved a historic problem we saw in the 1980s that beset many folk who wished to live in splendidly remote areas, where quite a few of our featured properties are built. Nowadays, the internet makes this possible. The statistics that drive online work can be staggering. The Bulletin has just a small, but illuminating example of this perspective.

However, with over 1,000,000 page views to date, as the saying goes: “Why so glum, chum”. Well at the time of writing this, last edition’s plea for readers to sign the petition above has resulted in only 7 signatures. Fair enough to those who object to the principle espoused on the website we uploaded for the purpose:-

QE90 Website For Emergency Workers

But with 30,000 readers on a low-read edition and up to 75,000 on a good global series we had hoped for a little better turnout.

After due reflection of the “7” petition signatories [thank you by the way], we are firm believers that it is our fault at not putting the message across clearly, or well enough. Hence pressing the importance of this QE90 Medal petition to the continuation of the Unique Property Bulletin in this article.

At this point you may rightly be asking why go to all this bother? Why the stubbornness? Apart from the fact that Unique Property Bulletin would have been off-line for either a couple of months, or permanently, it is a matter of personal persistence and determination to make that petition work – that those who help others should have a proper show of appreciation. Since uploading the QE90 Medal website for emergency workers, it has been a source of great comfort to receive a letter from 10 Downing Street advising that an award is in the process of being created for PART of the request that we are campaigning for [QE90 News]. NOT likely as a result of the website, nor the 50 odd Shawshank Redemption persistent style letters written about this to the appropriate channels and emergency services etc., since November 2014, but because many other folk in the UK recognise, for example that the courageous medics and emergency personnel who go to help those stricken in West Africa should be recognised. It is very reassuring that other folk think along these lines too. Letters and petitions work. I can show you proof of a way this worked elsewhere, and links are given further down the page. All 3,269 tons of what was achieved – plus several million pounds of money secured to structurally improve two local economies.

However, getting back to where we should be, because that is what you are joining in reading Unique Property Bulletin for, the message here, apart from the emphasis on saying a hearty thank you to someone who cares about others – and many like him that have a vocation in the emergency services, is that persistence and determination is what I am endeavouring to highlight here. I can guarantee it works. Offsite we campaigned for many years, and that included a petition with just 3,323 signatures [ Click Here ] which helped result in a successful outcome [ Click Here ].

MV Hebridean Isles / MV Isle of Arran Help New Ferry Route (c) Russ McLean

Not A Bad Result For A Bit of Campaigning

MV Isle of Arran Ship Specification

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This leads me to a key point for readers of this Unique Property Bulletin…

　If Only

These are two words that probably feature most in the emails we receive at the Bulletin.

However, achieving your own ownership of a unique property should NOT be an unrealised dream. If nothing else – print the words out and stick them above your computer, please remember:-

Persistence and Determination

Why? Well through life I have found cycles of prosperity and dry-wallet occur time after time. One such event was when the amazing Art Deco Keil Hotel came up for sale at an astonishing price of £59,900. Eventually negotiated down to £24,000. The location was the most unique thing. By Sir Paul McCartney’s Mull of Kintyre.

Sir Paul McCartney’s “Mull of Kintyre” Video: Click On The Above Photo

But with only £12,000 cash at hand and a building that was unmortgageable, what to do to raise the other £12,000? Persistence and Determination. The result? Two friends, via the Unique Property Bulletin of 1999 came alongside and joined one of first adventures.

Unique Property Bulletin: An Old Paper Copy (c) Unique Property Bulletin

(Series 6, Binder 4)

Each friend put £6,000 into the kitty and the required total £24,000 price tag was duly paid across to our solicitors and a neat set of title deeds received in return. Plus one Brobdingnagian sized building. Plan A was to refurbish it. However, after a mind numbing and frustrating discourse with a truly appalling government regeneration organisation we decided to just sell the building. Then something really unexpected happened.

The Old Keil Hotel (c) 1999 Unique Property Bulletin

The sale receipts for the old Keil Hotel and associated land/buildings that came with the property raised over £100,000. The three of us were flabbergasted at this surplus. My two friends became very good friends! Each £6,000 turned into over £22,500 after legal/conveyancing fees were paid! Happy friends indeed. In the process Unique Property Syndicates were started. Plus a lump of the surplus was put towards keeping the Unique Property Bulletin going. From then on in, whilst Plan A was to buy at a best-price scenario and renovate, we then acquired a Plan B, format which was to sell after some decent marketing. But usually after some amazing adventures were enjoyed on subsequent unique syndicate purchases like this…

The Lighthouse Buildings, Plus Pier, Railway & Amazing Times

Photo Copyright: 2014 Turf Burner

Ailsa Craig Island. The Second One. Is This Your Flavour of Adventure?

Made possible thanks, in part to the good old Keil Hotel Unique Property Syndicate funds growing and moving forward. Food for thought for your own unique property endeavour?

In fact one of my Keil Hotel friends has adopted the phrase Plan B as his enduring mantra. Not every day that £6,000 is near quadrupled. The unique property adventures are excellent, but the growth of core funds can also be a lot of fun too. Not least because it confirms an abiding fact. When you ask of yourself, or email us (which we very much welcome) mentioning that “If Only” you could afford this unique building or that, take a moment. We believe you can.

This brings me neatly back to:-

Persistence and Determination

It was only by staying true to these two words that we turned “If Only” into actual dreams being realised.

If we can do it, surely so can you?

Here’s the thing. After all of the above is said and done, what has been the lifelong companion needs words placed on paper – a personal thanks to Unique Property Bulletin. This semi-autonomous thing that has been an abiding friend and companion for over quarter of a century. More than that, it has provided friendships with fellow Bulletin readers, members and colleagues that have lasted equally as long. For that I cannot say thank you enough.

Which maybe answers the question you might have as to why I am so persistent and determined in saying thank you to a good friend. So last, but by no means least, please consider signing this petition…

Clicking Here & Signing Will Really Help The Bulletin Continue

THANK YOU

From experience I know if we can help pump-prime the petition to 1,000 signatures and add a lot of letter writing this end, then there is a very good likelihood of achieving something that will mean a lot to many folk all over the country – not just the one friend, for whom this personal treatise has been the inspiration for.

This edition’s article has been a little unusual, but hey, that is the whole purpose of this website. The unusual. Whether that be in action, philosophy of life, or as a unique place to live.

Kind regards and best wishes,

Russ McLean

Unique Property Bulletin

Russ McLean At Davaar Island Lighthouse

Personal ! Ugly Visog – Days of Health, Fitness & Lighthouse Adventures

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