Private Clients | Aberdeenshire, Scotland 2012-2013

“At the end of a very steep climbing track (Ardoch’s) fields command what must be one of the finest views in the Scottish Highlands”

Tom Weir, ‘Weir’s Way’ Series 1, Episode 34: Royal Deeside July 14, 1987 STV (UK)

Overlooking the River Dee between Crathie and Braemar in the Cairngorms National Park, the compact hillside fermtoun (farm settlement) of Ardoch has been restored, reinstated and reinvented for the 21st Century.

The buildings and site have been restored following a decade long project of reconstruction and replanting. Using a combination of traditional and contemporary methods each of the five main buildings on the site has been renewed or repurposed, brought up to modern standards of energy efficiency within a specifically highland vernacular footprint.

The main house, a 19th century highland but’n’ben, has been restored with the original 170 year old graduated scotch slate roof painstakingly lifted and re-laid in sequence over new pine sarking boards - ready for the next 170 winters and beyond. Interior joinery has been replaced to match the original, with a blocked up granite cooking range re-opened to again become the focus of the home, with its exposed two meter long granite lintel and original cast iron sway. Traditional materials and vernacular details are employed throughout, with new fittings and fixtures selected for their robust simplicity of form.