the waterhouse
natural tranquility
The Waterhouse Self Catering Accommodation
The Waterhouse Lodge was designed and built by the owners and local craftsmen and completed in 2007.
- Sleeps 4 in one double and one bunk room.
- Also comprises shower/WC and living, kitchen, dining room.
- Built using locally sourced/sustainable timbers and has a living green roof, solar water heating panels, bio-mass wood pellet stove, low-energy lighting, heat reflective glass, eco friendly paint products
- DVD/CD/radio
- Wood/leather furniture made in UK
- Fully equipped kitchen with gas oven and hob, fridge/freezer, pots & pans, cooking utensils, cutlery, crockery, glassware etc.
- Linen, towels and bathrobes provided
- Welcome pack of local produce
- Wrap-around south facing deck overlooking pond
- Pond-side hot tub, heated throughout the year
- Locally crafted garden furniture
- Lushly planted gardens
The Waterhouse is an oak framed Lodge of exceptionally high quality, built by ourselves and local craftsmen, from our own design. It is nearly all individually home-crafted, down to the doors and windows. Building on The Waterhouse was started in early 2006 and completed in May 2007, while the extensive gardens were started from an open field in 1983. The house is surrounded by stunning, undulating countryside, nestled beside a farm track with fields full of sheep, cows and occasional deer. It is only 3 miles from the coast and woodland and hill walks are minutes away on foot, as are a number of beautiful lochs with a profusion of swans, geese, ducks and moorhens.
The Waterhouse has large oak framed, glass, double doors which open onto a large sundeck for exclusive use by Waterhouse guests. All furniture is high quality, UK crafted and wooden, like the house. The interior has a high, open, spacious roof with large areas of windows giving a light, airy feeling throughout the year. Heating is from a wood pellet, biomass stove in the living room, which is like a wood burning stove, but with the push button convenience of an electric stove. Small space heaters are fitted in the bedrooms and a mobile electric heater provides backup.
The house has a double bedroom with a chunky wooden bed and a glass door opening on to the deck. There is also a second, small bedroom with built in, comfortable, wide bunk beds for children or agile adults.
The bathroom, between bedrooms, has a solar heated shower (with mains back up), WC, washbasin and heated towel rail. The well-appointed kitchen, with gas hob and oven, is part of the open-plan living space, which has wrap-around South facing windows overlooking the pond. This has a dining table for 4 and a leather sofa and chairs. It has a quality, built in, CD & RADIO system, with adaptor lead for Ipods. A DVD player is available in the living room. This does NOT receive a TV signal (by choice). The Waterhouse is fully equipped with cutlery, crockery, glassware, pots and pans, utensils, cooker, fridge- freezer, electric kettle, toaster, tea towels, smoke detector, and fire extinguisher.
Bed linen, towels and bath robes are provided as well as a starter pack of local produce and cleaning materials.
Outside, the deck has; a table built from an Ash tree cut from the gardens seating up to 10 people, chairs, sun-loungers, BBQ and a moveable fire pit. Here you can eat, relax and sunbathe (on a good day!). The deck has steps leading onto a pond side sundeck with a heated outside hot tub that can be used any time of year, even New Year's Day. The Waterhouse is a perfect setting both for shorter winter breaks as well as longer summer holidays. As the gardens are very private, most people enjoy the hot-tub without costumes (better for water purity) and non-naturist guests can feel confident that their privacy will be respected.
Surprisingly, Scottish "midges" and other biting insects are not very common and rarely a problem by the ponds even in the evening and so far we have had no customer complaints about bites. Perhaps it has something to do with the bats and swallows commonly skimming the surface. A circular pond side walk leads to a summer house with glass doors looking back towards The Waterhouse. Parents should supervise children playing near the pond at all times.
In keeping with the environmental ethos of The Waterhouse and gardens, the building and contents have been designed to minimise carbon emissions and to be as natural a build as possible. All timber in the building and decks comes from local and/or sustainable sources. The living roof is clad in green sedum to lessen environmental impact on the landscape. The thick insulation is natural Thermafleece, sheep's wool. Interior paints and varnish are safe and natural green products. The windows have heat reflective glass. To reduce energy use, all light bulbs are low energy and electrical appliances have been kept to a minimum.
There is no telephone or internet connection in The Waterhouse. Reception for mobile phones is poor in the property but gets better as you drive towards town. The house phone can be used in emergencies or for incoming messages.
There is disabled access to The Waterhouse and the large deck is a comfortable space from which to view the garden, however, the terraced nature of the gardens, makes closer access to the gardens, by wheelchair users, difficult. The gardens are designed for nature conservation with large numbers of bird species present, and over 100 species of wild flowers and masses of butterflies. It is a dog and cat free zone and as such we ask visitors not to bring pets except by prior arrangement.
