It is the remote outpost famed as the place where George Orwell wrote his futuristic best seller 1984.
However, the Hebridean isle of Jura, which Orwell famously labelled as “ungettable” will soon have a new claim to fame... as the home of one of the world’s most exclusive golfing hotels.
Ardfin Estate was bought for £3.5 million in 2010 by Australian millionaire Greg Coffey and he has since spent an estimated £50m renovating Jura House and farm buildings into luxury accommodation.
Nicknamed “The Wizard of Oz”, after making a reputed £430m as a young City hedge fund trader, Mr Coffey has also spent around £20m creating a top 18-hole golf course on the island’s rugged terrain.
Ardfin is now set to welcome its first paying guests in April. Jura House, complete with golfing and other estate facilities included, is available for £20,000 a night, while a two-bedroom apartment in the old farm buildings, now known as The Quadrangle, will cost more than £5,000 a night.
The big house has been decked out in historic Scottish country house style by London based interior designer Louise Jones.
With no expense spared on its redesign, Jura House is now as far removed as it is possible to get from Barnhill, the basic farmhouse, four miles from the nearest road, where Orwell once stayed.
Mr Coffey, who is understood to be currently in New York, and his estate manager Willie MacDonald, were not available yesterday, but commenting previously on Mr Coffey’s investment in the estate Mr MacDonald said:
“It has made a huge difference, he has done nothing but good. The investment and what he has created is superb.”
The attributes of the new hotel are featured in the latest edition of an upmarket travel magazine and an islander, who has seen the renovated house, said: “It’s £20,000 for the house, for one night, but the house is stunning, absolutely mind-blowing, it’s beyond description.You would be forgiven for thinking a family had lived there for 600 years.
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“The house has tripled in size – and it was already a big mansion. The swimming pool is bigger than Jura Church and they have converted all the farm buildings into luxury apartments, all very individual and unique, there are no two things the same, no expense has been spared.
“There is a bar and a dining area you go to for your meals, they are not self-catering.”
Chris Lamb, who runs Jura Stores, said: “Yes, we have been told it’s around £20,000 to rent the whole house for a night, but it’s huge, it’s not just like a big standard house – he ripped both ends off it and added two new wings.
“It’s basically like a wedding venue, 30,000 square feet, with its own swimming pool and treatment room.
“It’s certainly an exclusive place and it’s the golf course that is the draw, people are saying how exceptional it is. He is making it more exclusive than Turnberry.
“You can play at St Andrews for a few hundred pounds, but to rent Jura House is £20,000 a night – the locals won’t get to play on it.”
The work on the course and hotel has brought trade to the island, with Mr Coffey even buying houses for workers to stay in.
Mr Lamb said: “We did exceptionally well in the shop when they were building it, but we could never supply the new place – the food will have to be Michelin star standard.
“Some people have been against it since he bought the estate, but from reading the original plans to build a golf course I thought it was a good idea because it improves the grounds for birds and wildlife. All the grounds were fit for before was deer.”
Mr Lamb added: “We haven’t seen Greg Coffey since last September.”
A total of 85 workers, almost half the island’s 190 population, were drafted in to complete the ambitious Ardfin Estate projects.
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The world class golf course has been forged out along the cliff tops of Ardfin Estate.
It is said to be one of the most challenging golf courses ever built, with rough peat land dug out and replaced with imported soil and specialist grass brought in from Yorkshire for the greens.
Designed by top Sydney architect Bob Harrison and constructed by SOL, who built Donald Trump’s Scottish courses, the course boasts priceless sea views from every hole.
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