Roy Murray began gathering the granite for Canterbury House 25 years ago. But it wasn’t until just over 10 years ago that he started putting it to good use.
“What we tried to do is build a Rubislaw-style house in the country,” explained Roy, an experienced charter surveyor.
“I drew up the plans and designed it and then I sourced granite from Aberdeen to build it.”
The magnificent seven-bedroom home has been built from stone taken from different parts of Aberdeen.
Some is from the west end, some comes from the harbour and some even comes from demolished buildings.
“It was a case of being in the know of what was being knocked down,” said Roy.
“We would tweak the design to accommodate the granite we acquired.”
Roy, 60, lives in the home with his wife Linda, 57, a retired pharmacist from the Banff area.
It took the couple two and half years to build the house, which is on the market for offers over £950,000.
“It was our dream house,” said Roy. “It’s very large and about 700 sq ft.
“Although it looks like a Victorian house, we have added things like modern insulation and a sound system so there’s music in every room.”
The house, which oozes a blend of Victorian and contemporary style, is peppered with period features like pitch pine staircases, cornicing and fireplaces.
Roy and Linda also spent a lot of time in antique shops to furnish the rooms.
“That was the second part of the project,” recalled Roy. “We wanted to furnish the rooms in an antique style.”
One of the most striking rooms in the house is the basement bar.
Boasting an 1895 full-size billiard table, the 100 square metre room has held parties of 100 people, and has even hosted live bands to entertain the guests.
“We’ve hosted a lot of birthday parties for up to 100 people. We sometimes have a live band playing and I jokingly call it the Hard Rock Cafe Cornhill.
“I have an extensive collection of Hard Rock Cafe glasses and there’s Muhammad Ali gloves too.”
The bar, which is Roy’s favourite room, is something he’ll miss when he and Linda leave.
The pair feel they don’t make enough use of the rooms in the house so they are looking to downsize, and will build their next home from scratch, too.
“I’ll miss the bar and the next house will have a bar the same size.
“We’ve just had consent to build a house at our farm which is about half a mile down the road.
“When our daughter Fiona lived at home, and Linda’s stayed with us for while, we made use of the rooms.
“Our next house will have about three or four rooms with just one of them en suite.”
Exploring the local area, which has some of the highest sunshine levels in the UK, there’s plenty to do and lots of essential amenities.
The nearby village of Cornhill offers a general shop and post office, garage, pub, village hall and church.
Three miles away, the village of Portsoy boasts a small supermarket, various pubs, hotels and cafes.
“I think the location is very good,” said Roy.
“It’s only 10 miles from Banff where my parent are and we’re only 45 minutes away from the airport.
“When the bypass is built, it will be even better for getting into Aberdeen.”
Contact Savills on 01224 971110.