DUNBEATH Estate in Caithness is being put on the market. Plans to give
it to the nation have fallen through at the last minute.
Negotiations were well advanced between the National Trust for
Scotland and the owner, Mr Stanton Avery, 87, a Californian businessman
who bought the estate in 1977.
The transfer of the 40,000 acres, including the clifftop Dunbeath
Castle with its white-washed walls, was due to have been concluded by
May but the offer has now been withdrawn by Mr Avery.
Speaking from Dunbeath Castle yesterday, Mr Avery said he regretted
having to withdraw his offer.
He claimed the sticking point was the failure of the National Trust to
commit itself to underwriting the running costs.
However, officials of the National Trust maintained that finance was
not at issue, because #1.2m of public funds was committed to the running
of the estate if the transfer went ahead.
Any sale will have to ensure that the existing mix of crofting,
farming, and shooting is protected.
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