Arbigland House Dumfrieshire, Scotland

Have you ever dreamed of owning your own small country estate? I know that I have, something with enough ground to wander around in and gather your thoughts, whiling away the day pottering in the grounds and when the mood takes you, a leisurely walk down to the seashore to take in the magnificent views. All this is possible at Arbigland house, a Refurbished Georgian country house with magnificent coastal gardens and seaviews. Asking price £1.8m

Main Arbigland House accomodation
Reception Hall, Drawing Room, Sitting Room, Library, Dining Room, Kitchen, Cloakroom, Morning Room
Master Bedroom with Dressing Room and Bathroom, 6 further Bedrooms and 3 Bathrooms (2 En Suite)

Large Basement with Offices and Stores

Traditional Courtyard
7 Bedroom Guest Cottage, 3 Bedroom Gardener’s Cottage, Derelict Stables Cottage
Squash Court, Stables, Garages, Workshops and Stores

Arbigland House Grounds
Coastal Garden with Huge Variety of Shrubs, Plants and Trees
Formal Garden. Lake. Grazing.
About 24 Acres In All

Situation
Arbigland is set just above the coast of the Solway Firth. Arbigland house lies between mature policy woodlands and magnificent wooded gardens which run down to the sea. It has open outlooks to both the north and south with sea views from all the main windows. The property was formerly part of Arbigland Estate which extends to about 1000 acres in all. The surrounding countryside combines rolling grass farmland, a spectacular coastline and an abundance of established woodland. There are many attractive walks and opportunities for pheasant shooting and wild fowling. The south west of Scotland is a genuinely rural area of Scotland. The area has a mild Gulf Stream climate which allows a variety of tender plants to be grown. There is a RSPB bird reserve nearby at Mershead on the Solway Firth. Recreational opportunities nearby include pheasant shooting, salmon fishing on the Rivers Nith and Annan, hunting with the Dumfriesshire & Stewartry Foxhounds and roe deer stalking in the forests inland. The coast offers opportunities for sailing, with a marina at Kippford 10 miles away. There is a championship quality coastal golf course at Southerness which is only 3 miles away. Dumfries, 12 miles to the north, is an active country town which provides a wide range of facilities including schools, a hospital, a wide range of shops, sports clubs and professional services. The M6 and M74, the main route from northwest England to Scotland, is only 24 miles to the east. There are railway stations at both Dumfries and Carlisle with services to Glasgow and London. Glasgow airport has a wide range of regular domestic and internationalservices.

History of Arbigland House
The original house at Arbigland was McCulloch’s Castle which lay above the cliff to the north of the present property and was used from the Iron Age to about 1500. Thereafter the main house was moved to the top of the cliff on the south side of the bay. The foundations of that building are still in use as the present day sunken garden. In 1679 the Craik family bought the property and transformed the land to create the estate which exists today. William Craik designed a house to be built set back from the shore, it in the style of Adam, the most famous domestic architect of that time. The new house was completed in 1755.

Description
Arbigland House has a classical Georgian entrance façade with a central pediment above Ionic pillars, stone urns on the roof and decorative stone detail. There are matching single storey octagonal pavilions on either side. A porch was subsequently added to the entrance façade to protect the front door from the prevailing south westerly wind. Internally, the accommodation is arranged on three floors with a basement
below. The house has beautifully proportioned rooms, particularly on the ground floor. Many original features such as fireplaces, decorative cornice work and window shutters remain. The house has been fully refurbished over the past ten years and now provides luxurious accommodation. The ground, first and second floors are all of highly manageable proportions. There is considerable scope to create more
accommodation in the basement and also in the unused elevations of the courtyard.

The Gardens at Arbigland House
The coastal gardens originate from about 1680, when the Craiks built a carriage drive from the stable block to their house above the shore. This avenue is now known as the “Broad Walk”. There are magnificent trees and a mass of rhododendrons to either side. The gardens were laid out in their present state by the Chatelaine in the 1920’s.
The gardens are well protected by established woodlands which include stands of conifers and a mix of broad leaf trees. This combined with the mild climatic conditions (which are comparable with Torquay, over 300 miles to the south) means that a huge variety of tender plants and shrubs not often seen in Scotland are flourishing. The gardens are included in the Inventory of Gardens and Designed Landscapes in Scotland.

Further information
Knight Frank
1 Edinburgh Quay
133 Fountainbridge
Edinburgh
EH3 9QG
0131 222 9600