A home that’s all Willie’s own work

EVERYONE knows about the house that Jack built, but have you heard about the house Willie Beattie from Ardross built?

As a youngster, he used to look out of the windows of his house at the tree-covered hill on the other side of the valley, a few miles from Alness, and imagine how nice it would be to build his own house there one day.

Seven years ago his dream came true when, after much debate with local planners, he was allowed to build Kambr, a Nordic chalet-style three-storey house.

But this was to be no ordinary quick-build home. Willie built it himself and cut all the wood. As it is a large, four-bedroom house, that’s a huge amount of wood.

Willie, who has worked in forestry for 32 years and has his own forestry services company, takes up the story.

“I’d spent some time abroad and seen Nordic houses in Scandinavia, Canada and central Europe and liked the style of them,” said Willie, 52.

“I used to live in a prefab-style house on the other side of this valley and thought a Nordic house would look great on the other side.

“I bought the land and, stealing ideas from the houses I’d seen abroad, came up with my own house design which a local draughtsman and structural engineer approved.

“I wanted to use home-grown timber – the bulk of it was grown locally. I hand-cut some 30 tonnes of wood, which was then stacked and left to dry for a year to prevent twists and turns, before I could start building.

“Before taking on this project I didn’t know anything about building a house – ignorance is bliss as they say.”

Keen to make his house as “green” as possible, Willie recycled lots of timber. For example, the wood used in the beautiful upper hallway and all skirtings are made from recycled wood previously used at Invergordon Distillery.

Running costs to heat the house are minimal as it has high specification insulation, underfloor heating, full double glazing, a multi-fuel Raeburn cooker, log boiler and back-up oil central heating.

And here’s something that will make many homeowners jealous: “In the past seven years I’ve only had to fill the oil tank once, because the house is so warm,” said Willie, a dad-of-two.

“I think of heating costs as being half a day spent chopping wood, rather than bills landing on the doormat.”

Apart from being a cosy, and inexpensive place to live, Kambr, which means “side of the hill” in Norse, has a lot to offer those in the market for a large family home.

The house is surrounded on three sides by a veranda, a lovely place to sit and soak up the views, sunrises and sunsets.

The main L-shaped entrance hall gives access to a west-facing large family room, a double bedroom, a good-sized office/study and the large kitchen dining room.

There’s also a large utility/wet room, with Belfast sink, lots of storage units and a separate WC with wash-hand basin.

The main sitting room is reached via a short flight of broad steps leading down to a lovely big room which is the heart of the house.

It has a big multi-fuel stove, large windows and french windows which lead directly on to the veranda, and feels very like a Swiss chalet.

Upstairs, the big hallway gives access to three generous double bedrooms. The master has a separate dressing area and an en-suite bathroom with separate shower.

There’s also a large, luxury bathroom and by way of a bonus, a second sitting room with floor-to-ceiling windows.

“Originally, the lower sitting room was meant to have a double-height ceiling but I felt that would be a waste of heat, so created a mezzanine floor, which still has high ceilings but is a lovely place to sit and enjoy the beautiful sunsets we get here.”

A fully floored loft, currently used as a games room, could be split into two more bedrooms.

The house sits in around two acres of terraced gardens, a large pond and a variety of outhouses with light and power.

“We get lots of wildlife coming into the garden including deer, pine martin and foxes,” said Willie

“It was a big challenge to build this house but one I enjoyed which is why I am selling, so I can use the money to build my next house.”

Ardross, a hamlet with a primary school, is around five miles from Alness where there is a range of services including shops, hotels and a secondary school. Inverness is 26 miles away.

Kambr is being sold through Wilsons Solicitors of Invergordon, who are seeking offers over £370,000. For further details call 01349 852131.

Source www.pressandjournal.co.uk/