A SCOTTISH LOVE STORY

You need passion to persevere through a lengthy restoration project. Thankfully for this rambling old lodge in Highland Perthshire, its new owners were already head over heels

- Chae Strathie

"It was horrid. It was terrible. It was the worst possible experience." It's fair to say it wasn't love at first sight when Roderick Murray and Croiscrag Lodge first met. No fireworks, no puppy-dog eyes - just rain, cold, a powercut and frayed nerves.

Luckily for both of them, Croiscrag had the 'P word' in its favour: potential. And despite the inauspicious start to their relationship, Roderick saw the inner beauty in the rambling set of buildings on the shores of Loch Rannoch.

Still, there's a noticeable shudder as he recalls the details of that first meeting in the depths of a grim Scottish winter. "I hated the drive up. I'd lived in Hong Kong for 25 years and wasn't used to the winding single-track roads. When I finally got there, there'd been a power cut so there was no light and no heating. Oh, and the estate agent had been waiting for me for two hours because I was late, so she was really grumpy!

"She showed me around, and it was nasty. But the location was amazing and it had huge potential." The rest, as they say, is history.

Roderick, an architect, convinced his partner, Selfridges managing director Andrew Keith, that this was the place they were looking for, and so began the transformation from a dated, confusing warren to the stunning blend of old and new it is today.

That theme of balance is a thread that runs through the home and the life that Roderick and Andrew have created at Croiscrag. The fabric of the house is a mix of original features and the very latest materials, while the furniture is a gorgeous marriage of modern design and vintage warmth. Even the local area combines ancient woodland with a train station that allows the couple to jump on the sleeper service direct to London. However, getting to that point was neither quick nor easy.

"We had the keys for two years before work began because we had the design work and the submissions to the council to go through," explains Roderick.