Dreamers on the lookout for a complete change of lifestyle will find in Inchconnacahan Island pretty much everything they could have hoped to find.
For the romantically-inclined, the allure of living on a private island never fades. Nor does the allure of living in a spectacularly beautiful part of Scotland, where the mountains and forests run down to the edge of the loch.
To find both those things in one property, then, will get a lot of people excited. And when you hear that the island in question has a price tag of £500,000, that excitement will be ramped up still further.
Inchconnacahan Island is a 103-acre dot on the map sitting in Loch Lomond, as famously beautiful a place as any in the country. And as well as being absurdly picturesque, this part of Scotland is — unlike many of the most spectacular areas — extremely easy to get to. Glasgow is just 25 miles away, so even accounting for the fact that part of the journey will be by boat, this is an island that would be easily commutable — and that from anywhere in Britain, given the ‘new normal’ which seems likely to see many of us work no more than a day or two a week in an office.
You’ll note that the first 186 words of this article have been and gone without any mention of what the accommodation is like. Some readers will quite probably have assumed that there is none, but actually the picture is rosier than that. There is a timber bungalow on the island which is now derelict, but permission is already in place for a new owner to build a five-bedroom lodge with boathouse and its own pier.
The bungalow really has seen better days…
The bungalow was once the holiday home of the adventurous Fiona Gore, Countess of Arran, a champion powerboat racer who once held the honour of being the ‘fastest woman on water’ after clocking 102mph in 1980.
Such pursuits would not be welcome in the waters around Inchconnacahan, however: the island is both an Area of Special Scientific Interest and a Special Area of Conservation as well as being part of the Loch Lomond and the Trossachs National Park. More sedate watersports are permitted, of course, while for nature lovers there are otters, deer and sometimes even nesting ospreys on the island, while the walking and mountain biking in the area is a huge draw. There’s also world-class golf: the famous Loch Lomond Golf Club is just across the water.
The nearest settlement to Inchconnachan is Luss, a charmingly well-preserved village on the west bank of Loch Lomond that sits on the main A82 to Glasgow. It’s this mix of nature, seclusion and accessibility which really grabs the attention of an island whose sellers, the Colquhoun family, have owned it since the 14th century.
‘This is an extraordinary opportunity to acquire a beautiful and completely private, yet accessible, retreat and create a wonderful new residence,’ says Cameron Ewer of Savillls.
Tom Stewart-Moore of co-agents Knight Frank agrees: ‘To be able to build your own house on your own private island but yet in a very accessible and beautiful part of the country will be a dream for many and is likely to have global appeal.’
Inchconnachan Island, Loch Lomond, is for sale via Savills and Knight Frank.
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