Calling all Grand Designers: Scottish mansion with a walled garden and a tower could be yours for just £200k - if you're up for a renovation challenge

Less than half the price of a London home, this imposing mansion needs a lot spending on it but could become the perfect country retreat...
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Becky Davies23 August 2017

A grand Scottish house with its own tower and set in over three acres of grounds, including a listed walled garden, has gone on the market for less than half the price of the average London home.

Estate agents for six-bedroom Chesterhill House listed it a week ago, hoping for offers in excess of £200,000.

However, Moira Webley, of Bell Ingram in Perth, said interest had been so intense from would-be buyers from England that she now expects the listed property in Newport-on-Tay, Fife, to go for more than £300,000 under Scotland’s sealed bid system.

In London, the average sold price of a home rose to £482,000, so a budget of £200,000 doesn’t go far at all. However, it will buy you the taste of the high life in Chelsea in a one-bedroom flat on Chelsea Embankment. There is one minor catch - the lease is just two years.

A delightful harbourfront one-bedroom flat in St Ives, Cornwall, could also be yours for the same money, while it will also land you a fully furnished two-bedroom flat in central Manchester.

A RENOVATION CHALLENGE
Although the house might seem a bargain, the eventual buyer faces a steep bill for restoration because it is has lain empty for 12 years and has suffered the effects of not only the elements, but birds and squatters.

“It’s a bit of mess inside because it’s been empty for so long,” said Ms Webley. “It’s very overgrown outside - the property has a beautiful walled garden, which initially we couldn’t even find!

“All the plumbing has been damaged and the kitchen is in a mess, ceilings are down in places and floorboards are coming up, but luckily all the period features remain - ceiling roses, cornices, fireplaces and the like.”

The 5,300sq ft, three-storey grade C-listed house was built in a Tudor-Italianate style in 1870 on the southern shore of the Firth of Tay in Fife for a wealthy trader from Dundee. The west wing was completed about 40 years later.

Its splendid walled garden was created before the construction of the existing house and was the crowning glory of an earlier property that is believed to have burned down.

Ms Webley said: “The reason for the house being where it is is because it was a short ferry ride from Dundee city, where there were traders in jute and other goods. These people built nice houses just on the other side of the water. Of course, there’s a bridge now.”

The house was bought in 1970 by teachers Richard and Leslie von Goetz who both died over 10 years ago and the house has been empty since then.

The ground floor has four reception rooms - including a 21ft living room - and a kitchen, the lower ground floor has four rooms and a bathroom, while the first floor not only has the bedrooms but two bathrooms and a kitchenette. There is even an attic.

The imposing tower has retained its crenellations and offers wonderful views across the grounds and the surrounding forest, while the Tay is just a couple of miles away.

Fife is famous for its golf course, and Scotscraig club is just a couple of miles away, while the world-famous St Andrews is a short drive away.

The grounds include not only the walled garden but a set of detached garages, which are also in need of major repairs.

Despite the state of the house, Ms Webley added: “It’s only been on the market a week, but we’ve had a lot on inquiries, not just from interested buyers but for nostalgic reasons, too. Some people remember being taught by the schoolmasters who lived there.”

Carl Warden, of Bell Ingram, added: “It is in need of considerable upgrading but for anyone up to the challenge, it has endless potential to be transformed into an impressive, character-filled family home.”

Dundee, which is six miles across the Tay from the house, offers direct trains to King’s Cross in six hours, and there’s even the option of taking the sleeper train, which runs six times a week, leaving Dundee at 11pm and arriving in London just before 8am.

Chesterhill House is being sold by Bell Ingram for offers over £200,000.