Alittle over two years ago, I wrote about a former Alves manse that had come up for sale, along with a church – both were ripe for conversion.
The Anchorage, formerly known as Windsor House, is an elegant, classical, B-listed Georgian manse dating from around 1835 and thought to have been designed by renowned Elgin architect William Robertson.
Sitting within large walled gardens, it hadn’t been upgraded since the 1960s and was ideal for anyone looking to stamp their own style on a large, traditional home.
Although they were living in England, Henry and Jacs Vigne were on the lookout for a home in Moray – Henry’s family live in Elgin – and when they saw The Anchorage, they knew it was the house for them.
Fast forward two years, and the house, which needed a huge injection of TLC, looks once more like an elegant, family home after the couple have breathed new life into it.
It wasn’t an easy task.
The Anchorage had previously been owned by Dr John Smith and his wife, Grace, who were well-known dog lovers, extremely private and although wealthy, didn’t flaunt their money.
So it came as a bit of a surprise when, after widow Grace passed away, it was revealed she’d left nearly all of her £7million estate to animal charities.
The house lay empty for several years, which allowed some damage to be done, but that didn’t put off Henry, an antiques specialist, or Jacs, a specialist in HR for BT, as one of their shared passions is restoring older properties.
“I’d always wanted to own a large Georgian house and this one was ideal as, because it needed upgrading, it meant we would be able to create the sort of home we wanted,” said Jacs.
“There were the usual sort of problems you’d expect to find in an older home such as some dry rot and ceilings in the attic had collapsed, but for the first few months it was a bit like living in a building site as at one point, nearly all the floors were up and I was scared our daughter would fall through!
“We were really lucky to have fantastic local builders, Andrew Stewart, from Duffus, and his cousin, David Stewart, from Lossiemouth, who had great experience in working on older properties.
“One of the first things we did was the restoration of some of the original features that the Smiths had removed when they’d done up the house in the 1960s.
“For example, original fireplaces had been removed and either boarded up or replaced with 1960s ones.
“We’ve had great fun searching for suitable period pieces and restoring them.”
Evidence of their hard work can be seen throughout the house, which is extremely elegant and beautiful.
There’s lots of lovely touches such as the now fully working restored window shutters, while a few changes to the layout have created a home that combines old and new beautifully.
The accommodation, which is spread across four floors, begins with a staircase leading to the double front door, complete with impressive door knocker – a good find on Ebay.
The entrance hall is flooded with natural light thanks to a very tall rear window that spans several floors.
The drawing room extends to almost the full depth of the house and has ornate plasterwork, working timber shutters and an attractive fireplace.
Across the hall, there’s an impressive dining room, good-sized study, storeroom, cloakroom and stylish WC with built-in storage.
The lower ground floor is, in many ways, the hub of the house thanks to the alterations made by the couple who have created a superb open-plan kitchen dining room which is pretty and cosy.
It has a raft of new high-quality fitted wall and floor units and a central island with granite worktops, an electric four-oven Aga and various integrated appliances, while an inglenook fireplace with a wood-burning stove provides a nice focal point.
Glazed double doors lead directly to the walled garden.
This floor also has a wine cellar, large utility room, store room and a boiler room which houses a biomass central-heating system which is very economical to run.
Back upstairs and on the first floor, the accommodation includes an impressive master bedroom with en-suite bathroom and a dressing room with walk-in wardrobe.
There are two further large bedrooms and a family bathroom.
Up again, to what may originally have been the servants’ rooms, and there’s a cosy seating area and two more large bedrooms.
The house has been completely re-wired, re-plumbed, had extensive insulation installed, and had a new central-heating system put in so all that’s left for the next owners to do is move in and unpack.
Their handywork can also be seen outside as the house now sits in lovely, spacious gardens where currently there’s swathes of snowdrops to be admired.
“Because the Smiths were so private, they really didn’t want the house to be seen at all, so the garden had dozens of trees and bushes which kept it hidden from passers-by,” said Jacs.
“It’s taken a long time to remove the overgrown trees and bushes – Henry even had to go on a course to learn how to use a chainsaw to do it properly,”
But as a result of this, the south-facing house now gets lots of light and, once more, looks magnificent, which begs the question, why are they selling?
“There was always a risk with my job that we’d have to re-locate to London,” said Jacs. “We took a gamble, but a change at work means having to move there, but we’ve loved living here and it’s been a joy being able to bring this house back to life – even if it is now for someone else’s benefit.”
Outside, there is a delightful walled garden to the east of the house which is laid to lawn with various mature trees, flower beds and herbaceous borders.
Garden buildings also include a large greenhouse and a useful newly built triple carriage house-style garage, while to the south and west there’s a charming woodland plantation with a wide range of mature specimen trees and rhododendrons.
The house is accessed over a sweeping tarmac and gravelled drive which provides ample parking space for several vehicles.
It is on the market at offers over £800,000 for both lots or offers over £650,000 for Lot One and offers over £150,000 for Lot Two.
Lot One includes The Anchorage and around 4.65 acres of grounds, while Lot Two is an original classic stable block and grassed paddock which has planning consent for conversion into a four-bedroom detached house, and the former Alvis Church which also has planning consent for conversion into a four-bedroomed detached home.
The village of Alves sits midway between Elgin and Forres and the house is around half a mile from the the A96 Inverness to Aberdeen trunk road.
The village has a primary school while there’s good state and private secondary schools nearby.
Contact: CKD Galbraith on 01343 546362.