Do you ever look at a property online, scanning through the photos, admiring the interior, examining the floor plans, and then spot the price and think, what? And I mean this in a good way as sometimes – and this has happened to me a few times recently – you’ll over-estimate an asking price only to be pleasantly surprised.
Ratho Cottage is one of those properties. Located on Rosetta Road in the heart of Peebles in the Scottish Borders, this C listed property forms the ground level of a detached house that dates back to 1886 when this land was originally owned by the local mill owners, the Ballantyne family. The properties in this area would be have built for the mill workers and managers, and judging by the beautiful carved stone detailing on the lintels above the front windows here, Ratho Cottage was most likely a manager’s house.
Owners Carolyn Bennett and Findlay Ferguson bought this two bedroom property five years ago. As Carolyn says: “We could see the potential.” The couple were renting a house nearby and continued living there while tackling the refurbishment here. The interior was stripped back, including the original floorboards and timber doors, and Carolyn spent hours painstakingly refurbishing each original door lock – as she says, everything was coated in layers of paint.
A small bedroom behind the main bedroom was transformed into a dressing room, and the bathroom was redesigned with tongue and groove panelling, and with Victorian-style fittings including a roll-top bath – the age of the property just seemed to lend itself to this softer, more traditional aesthetic, Carolyn explains. The couple also installed the wall-mounted stove in the living room. “There was a tiny opening here for a fire, and initially we looked at woodburning stoves, but then I saw a photo for this type of stove in a magazine,” Carolyn says of the Riva stove from Stonecraft.
The aim throughout was to brighten the interior by drawing in as much natural light as possible, and this is particularly true in the dining-kitchen, which sits within an existing extension at the rear of the building. The previously modern but dark cabinetry was replaced by a Shaker-style kitchen from John Lewis, with solid timber worktops and upstand and a Belfast sink. While this space already had patio doors on one side, the couple added a second set of doors that open up the rear elevation onto the south-facing garden, creating an indoor-outdoor flow that has completely transformed this area. The once-gloomy kitchen is now filled with light.
There are simple ideas to take from this interior. While this isn’t a big property, it feels spacious thanks to the palette that flows throughout – Carolyn used Sanderson Cameo White, other than in the kitchen where she chose an eau-de-nil hue that adds a subtle hint of green to the walls, as if bringing the outside in. Likewise, when choosing a new floor finish for the dining-kitchen, she opted for timber to complement the original floorboards elsewhere. Again, unifying the floor finish has enhanced the flow. And the contemporary fireplace was a particularly good choice: anything else might have dominated the room. As Carolyn says: “I didn’t want a piece that was going to intrude into the space.”
Finally, there’s the Shed. I’m going to blame my obsession with garden rooms on the fact that I work from home. The thought of having an office space external to your living space, where you actually have to leave the house to go to work – even if that journey is only a few steps away – is my idea of home office heaven. One of the previous owners at Ratho Cottage worked from home, so this garden room has been kitted out with all the necessities including internet access. Often a garden room is a summer space, a sitooterie from which to enjoy the garden, but the Shed offers more than that: it’s a functional year-round room.
Is it just me, or does Ratho Cottage seems like a really good find for a guide price of £170,000? Given that this property is now under offer, it appears that I’m not alone in thinking this.
Ratho Cottage was marketed by CKD Galbraith.
Photography by James Bennett: website, jamesbbennett@mindspring.com, Instagram.
