UP FOR AUCTION: Story behind the historic Wester Ross lodge with a complicated past

Achnashellach Lodge Pic Future Proerty Auctions

A 19th century former shooting lodge in Wester Ross is set to go under the hammer next month.

Achnashellach Lodge in Glen Carron, near Lochcarron, will be offered for sale at an online auction, with an opening bid of £293,000.

The 15-bedroom property, which dates from the 1860s, sits in 18 acres of woodland and has its own hydro-electric power scheme.

Future Property Auctions, which will conduct the auction on 6th February, describes the property as in need of full restoration but with the potential to be a “stunning family home/guest house/holiday retreat/boutique hotel/spa”.

The grand building with a royal past Pic Future Proerty Auctions

The agents say: “The front section of the property is in reasonable order, however the rear is in a state of some disrepair and non-habitable condition.

“A hydro-electric power system from the river was installed in 1927. This was last used in 1998.”

Achnashellach Lodge was once part of a large sporting estate but over the years land was sold off, including around 20,000 acres to the Forestry Commission in 1921.

It was owned latterly by the Welding family.

Local resident Helen Murchison, who chairs Lochcarron Community Council, said: “Achnashellach Lodge has a very interesting but quite complicated past and has changed hands every 20 years or so throughout its history. 

“I believe the lodge was built by a cotton baron.

“However the story goes that the lady of the house didn’t want to see the servants’ cottages so they were constructed at Balnacra, around three miles away, so she didn’t have to look at them. 

“Queen Victoria’s son, Edward Prince of Wales, used to go there for deer shooting.

“In more recent times it was owned by Major John Botley and he sold the lodge to the Howard Doris company when they were building the fabrication yard at Kishorn.

“They used it as accommodation for their executives. 

“It had legendary gardens in its heyday with over 100 varieties of azalea.”

The building needs refurbishment Pic Future Proerty Auctions

Mrs Murchison added: “It sounds like it needs quite a bit of money spent on it so I think any buyer would need to have very deep pockets.

“It’s on the NC500 route, however, so it could possibly have potential as a hotel or guest house.”

In a listing on Achnashellach Lodge, Am Baile, High Life Highland’s history and culture website, states: “In the late 1930s the photographer Duncan Macpherson recorded his observations with both his camera and in his books.

“In Gateway to Skye, he notes while on board a train ‘halted at Achnashellach station, that down below could be seen Achnashellach Lodge, for a time the residence of His Highness the Maharajah of Gaekwar of Baroda, but now owned by Mrs Stewart Sandeman’.” 

Article by JACKIE MACKENZIE