The House Of Plenty

This decaying Scottish stately home was rescued by a prince and has been transformed into a bustling hub of education and opportunity

- PAUL FISHER COCKBURN

EVERYONE, it seems, has a story to tell about Dumfries House - and for Jacqueline Farrell, who grew up within two miles of the Ayrshire estate, it's a story of artistic inspiration and change.

Growing up, the estate was a mysterious place.

"I was luckier than most in that my grandfather had a connection to the house, he looked after the TV sets," she says. "He managed the local shop, so he was allowed to maintain Lady Eileen's TV, and we got to stand on the front steps - that was quite exciting!

"It was always a place of mystery and glamour to most of the locals - but a place for others, not the community."

This was back in the day when the slowly decaying property of the Crichton-Stuart family, and home - until her death in 1993 - of the Dowager Marchioness of Bute, Lady Eileen, was not particularly welcoming to visitors.

That's all changed. Now owned by educational charity The Prince's Foundation, the restored house and estate are arguably something unique.

"It's not a stately home, it's not a garden, it's not a college or a school - it's all of those things," says Jacqueline, who is now education director for The Prince's Foundation.

"Local people - including myself - are proud of that, and proud to see the success it's brought to the area the proof of the concept is that it's regenerating the local community," she says.

"When you give people pride in their assets and their area, it just begins to change the culture."

From being one of Scotland's most overlooked hidden treasures - an 18th-century Palladian country house, with so much of its original furniture that the contents were once thought to be worth as much as the building itself - the estate has become a self-supporting operation that's been making real changes to people's lives since it was bought from its former owners in 2007.