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Times
03-07-2025
- Times
Shore thing — the Secret Coast holiday home of your dreams
Arriving at a faraway (but not too far) holiday house on a Friday night, at the end of another working week, when your children are young and nerves are frayed, is the definition of respite. Especially when that house is a sumptuously restored and mildly eccentric Victorian villa overlooking Argyll's Secret Coast. A canny bit of tourism marketing speak that must be true because in almost 30 years of living in Scotland, I've never come here before. It's dark when we pitch up in Tighnabruaich, its scattering of houses rising from the shoreline as though they've been hurled into position from across the Kyles of Bute. The late hour means the softly lapping waters are heard more than seen, spotlit here and there by sturdy village lamps studding the shore. But there are advantages to arriving somewhere after night has fallen. The next morning we wake early, and through the vast Victorian bay windows in the sitting room, sit huddled together watching the sun ascend over the Kyles of Bute. Slowly, slowly the quiet beauty of this part of western Scotland reveals itself. Shorefront House opened in 2021 after a huge restoration. Previously a hotel with a reputation for rowdy ceilidhs and late-night lock-ins, it had lain empty for 15 years, growing increasingly derelict until a Glasgow couple, Graeme and Lorraine McFall, with a background in the music industry saw it, fell in love and snapped it up. In less than three years they transformed this grand old mansion into a five-star holiday house with underfloor heating in the en suite bathrooms, Nespresso coffee machines and a sound system so impressive we fear the neighbours might come round (fear not, they don't). There is a Big Green Egg barbecue, a huge terrace for outdoor dining, a fire pit and pétanque court in the garden, and a pool table in the games room over which my son becomes extremely territorial. The thing that impresses this middle-aged mum most of all? A boiling water tap in the kitchen. • Tide & Thyme Bistro review: better than any takeaway in Glasgow or Edinburgh You could have an incredible multigenerational party here, spilling out onto the lawn, catered by Tide & Thyme, a local restaurant that also does private functions. The eight bedrooms — six are en suite — are named after Graeme and Lorraine's favourite Eighties bands. Which means listening to the children running up and down the stairs screaming, 'I'm in Orange Juice!' 'No, the Waterboys!' 'No, the Proclaimers!' We end up in Deacon Blue. It's a quirky modern touch, but it's also a nod to Tighnabruaich's deep historic links with Glasgow. Like so many imposing (and often decaying) Victorian mansions, Shorefront House has a long and complicated past, indelibly wrapped up in this country's history of empire. While the house was being built in the 1890s for a member of the Dobie family, who owned a tallow and tobacco company in Paisley, the village around it was expanding into a popular weekend retreat for Glasgow's merchants who were making huge fortunes through the unfettered plunder of tobacco, sugar and cotton in the colonies. Tighnabruaich was still only accessible from the water then so the merchants would come by paddle steamer, a history written in the three ghostly piers jutting from the village's short stretch of shoreline. (The expression 'Getting steaming' is said to come from this era because the paddle steamers, unlike many areas of Glasgow, were licensed.) The scenic, twisting road we drive here wasn't blasted out of the Cowal peninsula's hillside until the 1960s. Despite the cut-off feeling that accompanies all stays on peninsulas, there's loads to do. Just off the road out of Tighnabruaich you can play a round of golf that you pay for via the honesty box at the clubhouse. There are boat tours and trips 'doon the watter' from Tighnabruaich pier aboard the last seagoing paddle steamer, the Waverley. We head to Ostel Bay beach a few miles' drive from Tighnabruaich, parking at a little farm with an adjoining café, to stroll through dunes to a vast stretch of golden sand with magnificent views across to Arran. But why go anywhere when you're staying in a house like this? So it's back to the big views from the big windows. The generosity of the kitchen and the sound system. The game of pool with a bottle of local craft ale in the evenings. And the knowledge that we're staying in a carefully preserved piece of history that could so easily have been Ramaswamy was a guest of Luxury Cottages ( which has one night's self-catering for 18 at Shorefront House from £840
Daily Record
21-04-2025
- Entertainment
- Daily Record
Scotland's Home of the Year kicks off tonight and here's everything you need to know
Scotland's Home of the Year returns to BBC One Scotland tonight at 8:30pm with three vibrant houses in the west kicking off this year's series. Scotland's Home of the Year returns tonight (April 21) at 8.30pm on BBC One Scotland, bringing with it a fresh lineup of stunning homes sure to spark some serious envy. Judges Anna Campbell-Jones, Banjo Beale and Danny Campbell are back on the road as they begin their journey to uncover the most impressive homes across Scotland. The new series kicks off in the West, where the trio explore three distinctive properties - a vibrant family flat in Saltcoats, a characterful Victorian villa in Helensburgh, and a charming 1930s sandstone bungalow in Giffnock. First on the list is the Seaside Conversion in Saltcoats, home to Tracey, Scott, and their children Alfie, Blossom, and Marley. The family moved into the property just three weeks before Christmas, two years ago. While the exterior maintains a classic, traditional look, inside lies a vibrant four-bedroom upper apartment on the seafront, bursting with colour, creativity, and warmth. Next is Pamela and her husband Gordon and there sandstone home in Giffnock, which was built in the 1920s. The pair first moved into there home four years ago before the second Covid lockdown in 2020. The couple have put there own touch on the property but have kept its true authenticity intact with some of the original features from back in the day. The last house that will appear on the episode belongs to Shereen and William Costley - the couple have been living in their beautiful historical mansion in Helensburgh since 2017. The house boasts three levels, and is situated in an ideal spot for long walks along the Gare Loch and into the hills near the Duchess Woods. Although the couple also have a massive garden, where they can enjoy the sun and spend time with there family. Scoring each home based on architectural merit, unique design and individual style, Anna, Banjo, and Danny must choose whether the Seaside Conversion, Victorian Villa, or Sandstone Bungalow will go on to represent the West in the Scotland's Home of the Year grand final, set to take place at the House for an Art Lover in Glasgow. Interior designer and judge Anna has key criteria in mind when searching for her Scotland's Home of the Year winner, as she said: "It should be inspirational, atmospheric and accessible but have that most important ingredient…love." Fellow interior designer Banjo added : "It's that combination of the best bits of your past, parts of your present and, most importantly, room to grow." Architect Danny has his own take on what makes the perfect pad: "What I'm looking for in a home is life, a liveable space framed by the energy and passion of the owners."
BBC News
21-04-2025
- Entertainment
- BBC News
Home of the Year: 'We can tell people's homes by looking at them'
Scotland's Home of the Year judge Anna Campbell-Jones has become so adept at her job, she can tell which homes belong to which owners - just by looking at interior designer returns for a new series of the hit show where she gets to look inside strangers' homes and judge them for their inspiration and Campbell-Jones and her fellow judges, designer Banjo Beale and architect Danny Campbell, step into the competing houses, they have no idea who lives there - something she says shocks people."People are always quite surprised that we don't meet the homeowners," she told Reporting Scotland's News at Seven programme, "because we appear to know so much about them. "But it is incredible how much you can divine about a person or a couple or a family from the place they live. And that's exactly what we are looking for - something that really shows us who they are." It's only when they get to the final that they meet the people who live said: "When we are visiting the homes we are focusing on the homes and trying to work out what is going on and look at all the exciting ideas that people have been trying out."And when we meet the finalists it's a bit like how people look like their dogs - we are looking at everyone and saying I wonder if they are the people from that house - and we usually get it right."The seventh series of the BBC Scotland show begins on Monday. The competition has become a firm favourite with audiences who can't get enough of seeing where people believes it's human nature that makes it a success."It's a fundamental part of human nature, to snoop about other people's homes and see how they live," she said. Although the judging line-up has varied over the years, Campbell-Jones has remained constant, and she says the current three complement each other."The three of us get on really well - we think about homing in different ways, but we share a philosophy about the bigger picture - that it is about what a home means."Monday sees the team visit three very different homes in the west of for viewings are a colourful family flat in Saltcoats, a Victorian villa in Helensburgh and a 1930s sandstone bungalow in up is Seaside Conversion in Saltcoats, home to Tracey, Scott and their children Alfie, Blossom and Marley. Deceptively traditional from the outside, it's an upper four-bed beachfront flat packed full of colour and creativity. Next up is Victorian Villa in Helensburgh, a sandstone property which became home to Shereen, William and their family in 2017 after years of living huge seven-bedroomed Victorian home is full of items they've collected on their travels over the years, and each has a story of someone they know or somewhere they've been. The final contender in the west is Sandstone Bungalow in Giffnock, home to Pamela and Gordon, their son Caleb and Rosa the Irish Setter. The couple say they have blended old with new, retaining the beautiful original 1930s details whilst bringing the house up-to-date with a bright and modern kitchen, dining and living spaces. Campbell-Jones is clear on what she is looking for in a winner: "It should be inspirational, atmospheric and accessible but have that most important ingredient…love."Scoring them on architectural merit, distinctive design and personal style, the judges will choose which home will represent the west in the grand final held at House for an Art Lover in Glasgow.
