We've made it SUPER-HOMELY'

When work offered her the chance to relocate, Rebecca struck lucky, finding this old farmhouse in an idyllic location

- ANNABELLE GRUNDY

Scotland has always felt like home and I’d always wanted to live here,’ says Rebecca. ‘My grandfather was Scottish, so my roots are here, and we visited as a family for summer holidays – it has lots of happy memories for me. ‘The possibility of relocation came about when Alan, who had been in the RAF in Oxfordshire, decided he wanted to work for a commercial airline based in Edinburgh. So when he asked if I wanted to move here, I was overjoyed.

Looking for a property, our search was dictated by the radius to the airport as we needed to be within an hour’s drive of Edinburgh. We decided to rent a property just outside Perth while we waited for the right house to come up, which took a year.

Buying on instinct

I found the details of a ruined farm steading close to Loch Leven, in Kinross, that was being converted. I liked the look of it and phoned the estate agent straight away. I knew the area as I walked our dog around the loch. The agent introduced me to the developer, Peter Giacopazzi, that afternoon. We looked at some renovations he’d completed and then we looked at the ruin, which had amazing views of the loch. I put an offer in then and there. Peter said to me, “Don’t you want your husband to see it?” and I said, “He doesn’t need to see it. This is what I want!” I told my husband I’d bought a house that evening. He trusted me, as he knew I would buy what was right, within budget and within the radius of the airport.

Trusting the experts