‘We've made it super HOMELY'

When work offered her the chance to relocate, Rebecca Checkley-Mills struck lucky, finding this lovely old farmstead

- 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 my husband, 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.

Buying on pure instinct

I found the details of a ruined farm-steading close to Loch Leven, in Kinross, which 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 had completed, then we looked at the ruin, which had amazing views of the loch, and I put an offer in then and there.