Is this the Highland estate with everything? With prices ranging from #25,000 for an old schoolhouse to #525,000 for its historic mansion, the 6000-acre Knockdow Estate on the Cowal peninsula does offer something for everyone - including a couple of cottages in the #60,000 to #70,000 bracket. If you have #2million to spend, you could have the lot... including a farm, a forest and a spectacular glen.
``Knockdow has everything forestry, sporting potential, wildlife and conservation interest,'' says Anthony Hart of the Perth-based green-welly estate agency Bidwells. ``I cannot think of any estate which has come on the market in the last 20 years with greater potential.''
Knockdow lies in the ``forgotten corner'' of Argyll, among the fjords and rounded hills of the Cowal peninsula. The estate runs northward between Loch Striven and Ardyne Burn, taking in the beautiful Inverchaolain Glen rising up to the 2000ft summits of Cruach nan Capull and Leacann nan Gall west of Dunoon.
Despite its dramatic Highland setting, it is very accessible from Glasgow and its airport. The city centre can be reached in about 80 minutes by car from Knockdow House, which is about three miles north-west of Toward Point at the southern end of the estate.
The estate was in the hands of the Clan Lamont for about 600 years, at which time they owned most of the Cowal peninsula. The clan stronghold at Knockdow at that time took its name from a ``black knoll'' four miles north of the present house.
The clan's fortunes declined from about 1660 when, in the ``infamous and horrible massacre'' of Dunoon, some 200 clansmen were murdered by government forces. In 1894, the Laird of Knockdow was the only landed man of the Clan Lamont.
Despite this decline, the Lamonts had managed to construct a new mansion in 1760. It was altered and enlarged to its present form by Sir Norman Lamont in 1920, using local stone coupled with mahogany and sandalwood from the family's estates in Trinidad.
Knockdow House features four reception rooms, five main bedrooms and a caretaker's flat. Two lodges within the grounds are included in the sale, as well as two farmhouses with grazing and amenity land, three cottages and a tenanted farm. The house itself has been extensively upgraded in recent years, including major repairs to the roof. The lodges and stable-block/staff quarters around the house offer potential for conversion to modern dwellings.
The highland ecologist Dr Philip Ratcliffe, who recently joined Bidwells from the Forestry Commission as a consultant, says:
``Knockdow could be described as the model of a balanced Highlands estate encompassing a range of integrated land-uses operating in harmony. Sustainability and bio-diversity are increasingly important in the management of Highlands estates, and Knockdow is a perfect example of how a range of land-uses can be implemented, even in a relatively small area.
'It illustrates the feasibility of managing the Highlands as a patchwork of activities, getting away from the stag, sheep or tree monocultures which are blighting the landscape in other parts of the country.''
Argyll is one of Scotland's best timber areas and receives the full benefit of the mild, moist climate brought by the Gulf Stream.
Knockdow has enjoyed fairly regular plantings over the past 30 years which have made the most of the ideal soil and climatic conditions.
The older plantations are about to come into production, and the estate holds consent for a major grant assisted scheme of conifers and broadleafed native species covering up to 580 hectares.
Wildlife interest provided by gulls, waders and ducks, especially eider, mergansers and goldeneye. Inland, eagles, harriers, merlin and barn owls are well represented alongside a wide variety of resident and migratory song-birds. Inverchaolain Glen possesses unique colonies of alpine vegetation on its upper slopes, while the policies surrounding Knockdow House include numerous specimen trees, rhododendrons, wild flowers and woodland track through the small gorge formed by Ardyne Burn.
The estate is being offered for sale as a whole or in nine lots and the guide prices are:
Lot 1: Knockdow House #525,000
Lot 2: Kilmichael Cottage #66,000
Lot 3: Brackley Hill Plantation #350,000
Lot 4: Blairbuie Plantation #600,000
Lot 5: Old School House #25,000
Lot 6: Brackleymore Cottage #60,000
Lot 7: Inverchaolain Farmhouse #100,000
Lot 8: Stronyaraig Farmhouse #80,000
Lot 9: Inverchaolain Glen #200,000
Total: #2,000,000.
Knockdow Estate is being sold by Securum Property Holdings Limited, part of Securum AB, the Swedish asset management group set up by the Swedish Government in 1992 to take over from Norobanken, manage and eventually divest a #5billion portfolio.
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereComments are closed on this article