Sporting Estate for Sale: Glenstriven Estate, Argyll

Features

• Glenstriven House, a charming country house with 4 reception rooms, 10 bedrooms and 8 bathrooms with stunning views over Loch Striven
• Four dwellings including a large lodge
• Shoot lodge
• Keeper's maisonette
• Renowned high pheasant shoot
• Red and roe stalking
• Sea fishing, sailing and yachting
• In all 1,041 acres (421 ha)

Location

Glenstriven Estate occupies a magical setting on the western side of the Cowal Peninsula overlooking Loch Striven. The southerly and westerly views from the estate are magnificent and include the Islands of Bute and Cumbrae, together with the distinctive peak of Goat Fell and the mountains of Arran. 

Access to the estate is via a minor public road which leads for about 15 miles from Dunoon through the villages of Innellan and Toward before terminating at the entrance to Glenstriven Estate. With no through road beyond this point, traffic is very light and the estate notably secluded as a result. 

The closest airport with scheduled domestic and international flights is Glasgow International Airport (41 miles) which can ordinarily be reached in around 1½ hours. Gourock has a railway station which provides frequent services to Paisley (for Glasgow airport) and Glasgow city centre. Glasgow airport also has a heliport with helicopters available for charter. The journey time to Glenstriven by helicopter is about 15 minutes. 

Glenstriven House

Glenstriven House was built in 1860 and is accessed by an attractive cobbled drive flanked by an avenue of lime trees and specimen conifers. Whilst the principal façade faces west towards Loch Striven, the drive leads to a gravel sweep adjoining the northern elevation as a result of which, the large portico entrance at the northern elevation to the house is the most actively used. 

Occupying an elevated position with westerly views over Loch Striven, the house is of stone construction which is painted beneath pitched slate roofs. The northern façade of the house features a portico with decorative game-bird themed niches. Other features include dressed stone quoins and a circular cupola above the stairwell.

Glenstriven House was comprehensively refurbished and modernised and has been maintained and run to a high standard. Each of the additional houses on the estate have also been modernised to provide very comfortable accommodation – for letting as holiday accommodation and for employees. Each of the properties has stunning views over Loch Striven, a sea loch providing wonderful access to world-class yachting.

The internal accommodation is very well suited to the purposes of entertaining house parties of guests with spacious and well-proportioned reception rooms, eight bedrooms (including four bedroom suites) and extensive utilitarian and storage space including a purpose-built wine cellar with capacity for around 500 bottles. 

Features of the interior include a sweeping central staircase with decorative cast-iron spindles and wooden balustrade, decorative cornices, panelled doors with brass door furniture and traditional sash and casement windows throughout. 

The services include private water supply, oil-fired central heating and propane gas cooker. The electrical, plumbing and heating systems have been comprehensively renewed during the vendors’ ownership. The services have the capacity to cater for house parties of up to 20 people on a regular basis (e.g. over 40 shooting parties occupied the house during the 2017/18 shooting season). 

Gardens and Grounds

Glenstriven House is surrounded by several acres of kept lawns, parkland and wooded policies, beds of herbaceous shrubs, a wide variety of hybrid rhododendrons and has strategically placed seating benches to take full advantage of the stunning views across Loch Striven.

Situated within the grounds is one of the more quirky attractions of the estate. Known as “The Glenstriven Arms”, this is the conversion of a former generator building as a small, discreet, private pub used by guests from the main house. It comprises of a single room with working bar, bench and stool seating and it exudes charm and character. 

Stables and Outbuildings

Lying close to the north of Glenstriven on the other side of the gravel parking area is the former stable block, part of which has been converted to provide auxiliary living accommodation to complement Glenstriven House. This includes two bedroom suites, which, in combination with the main house, provide accommodation for a house party of 20 people in total. 

Lying close by is a traditional stone barn with a slate roof, which is used for general storage and opposite the Stable Block is an implement shed (6.1m x 11.6m) of timber frame construction. 
Lying a discreet distance from the main house and its immediate outbuildings is a general-purpose shed (16.0m x 18.3m) of steel portal frame construction with concrete block and timber-clad walls beneath a profile sheet metal roof. With a concrete floor and extensive apron on the south side to allow for it to be extended if required, this building is used for storage of machinery and equipment associated with the shoot.

Also within this range of buildings  is a timber-panelled shoot room, fur and feather game larders (including a chiller) and the estate office. 

Houses and Cottages

Glenstriven Lodge: Situated beside the drive at the entrance to the estate, this is a delightful and deceptively spacious traditional lodge cottage which has been enlarged and modernised by the current owners.

Flagstaff Cottage: Situated about halfway between the Lodge and Glenstriven House with access off the main drive, this is a timber-framed and clad chalet-style cottage with accommodation over three floors. 

Pier Cottage and the Old Smokehouse: This is a wonderfully located cottage with additional accommodation, ancient garden and boathouse, situated on the shore of Loch Striven beside the pier. A short distance from the cottage is a detached former fish smoker building, which has been converted as auxiliary accommodation to complement Pier Cottage. 

Invervegain Farmhouse and Buildings: Constructed of stone under a slate roof, Invervegain Farmhouse occupies a particularly majestic position on the north side of the Invervegain Burn. The southerly view down Loch Striven to Bute is one of the best of all of the houses on the estate. Originally built as a farmhouse with adjoining steading forming a U-shaped range of buildings, the house was extensively modernised in the 1990s with part of the adjoining steading being converted as a large games room.

Pier

A notable attraction of Glenstriven is its private pier. Constructed from North American greenheart timbers, the pier extends to about 30 metres in length with a deck width of 3 metres at the seaward end. It is designed to work in low or high tide and enables boats with a draft of up to 6 metres (20 feet) to dock.

The pier enables easy access to spectacular yachting and boating throughout the Firth of Clyde, together with mixed water sports and sea fishing in Loch Striven.

Land and Woods

The land rises from the edge of Loch Striven to the highest point at Cruach nan Capull at 2,036 feet (611m) above sea level. Whilst there is no longer any farming activity at Glenstriven, there was a hill sheep farm on the estate for many years prior to the current owners’ purchase in the 1980s. Within the policies of the estate, there are several enclosures of former in-bye pasture and rough grazing extending in total to about 59 acres. 

The woodland is a mix of native broadleaves and conifers, scattered along the shoreline, up gullies and at the sides of burns. Having previously owned Invervegain Glen – a commercial plantation of mainly Sitka spruce and larch – this was sold by the vendors several years ago. The boundary between the properties is on the southern fringe of the forest and therefore Glenstriven includes several stands of coniferous woodland which provide both a helpful buffer between the estate and adjoining forest and are also excellent pheasant coverts. 

The hill ground is divided into two parts lying on either side of the independently owned Invervegain Glen forest. Precipitous in places and exposed to the elements, the views from the hill ground throughout the south-western Highlands and islands are truly breath-taking. 

Sporting

Through a combination of dedicated hard work, investment, creativity and trial and error over a 30-year period, a most varied, challenging and exciting driven pheasant shoot has been established at Glenstriven. A variety of terrain including tall conifers, birch banks and craggy cliffs help in producing pheasant drives of world-class quality. 

With 12 named drives in total (shown on the sale plan below), some of the drives have Loch Striven as the backdrop and the scenery is majestic. The variety in the presentation of birds is fantastic including high curling birds coming off crags, gliding pheasants over treetops and some extreme pheasants at such appropriately named drives as  “Rio Grande” and “The Eiger”. 

Having worked as his assistant for many years, the current Head Keeper took over the role from his father in 2017 and has continued to improve and develop the shoot. Whilst the owners have retained a number of days for their own enjoyment, there is a wellestablished letting programme with a number of loyal shooting tenants from around the UK and further afield who recognise the unique shooting experience that Glenstriven has to offer. 

In addition to pheasants, there are wonderful wildfowling opportunities, good numbers of woodcock in winter months and the occasional grouse on the hill (although the current owners have elected to preserve rather than shoot them). 

With a large extent of forestry and open hill ground in this part of Scotland, the Cowal Peninsula is home to significant populations of both red and roe deer. At Glenstriven, the open hill ground lying above Invervegain Glen provides the opportunity for stalking. With access to the forestry, it is customary for the deer to shelter in the forest and graze on the open hill. 

Whilst formal cull records have not been kept, the Head Keeper estimates that the recent annual cull by the estate has been in the region of 10 stags and 15 hinds/calves. The estate has a deer larder and chiller and venison is collected as required by a game dealer.

Planning & Development

The vendors have been granted planning permission for the development of a single dwelling on a site to the south of Glenstriven House close to the walled garden. Granted in October 2017 under  the reference 17/02650/PP,  further details about this  application are available on line at www.argyll-bute.gov.uk. 

The vendors have identified that part of the hill ground at the northern end of the estate may have potential for a future wind power development. Informal discussions with a wind energy consultant have taken place and it is the vendors’ intention to negotiate a ‘clawback’ provision within the missives of sale to enable them to share with the purchaser of this part of the estate, the financial benefit accruing from any future wind development on the estate.

Guide price - £2.785m

Viewings 

Strictly by appointment with the joint selling agents, Strutt & Parker and John Clegg & Co: 

• Strutt & Parker, Edinburgh - 0131 226 2500
• John Clegg & Co, Edinburgh - 0131 229 8800