Taking a shine to lighthouses

John Cormack looks at why lighthouses are so popular as places to live

Keith and Nicola Stewart love Scotland. But they are particularly attached to their home standing alone and exposed down in the south west corner of the country. Keith is so taken with it that he returns home each weekend from the City of London where he works.

So what sort of home can exert such a pull? Three years ago Keith and Nicola bought a clutch of run-down lighthouse cottages attached to the now automated Killantringan Lighthouse on the west coast near Stranraer in Dumfries and Galloway.

Nicola talks animatedly about their home:

“We just knew we wanted to be near water – a loch, a river, the sea whatever”.

It was an aerial photo on an estate agent's brochure that brought them to view the properties which, at that time, were being used as some rather poor quality holiday homes.

The Stewarts uprooted themselves from family and friends in Kent, travelled North and set about transforming the cottages into their dream home surrounded by more water than their wildest dreams could conjure.

“We love it here”, says Nicola, “especially in autumn and winter. It's great being close to the sea and it can be very dramatic.

“We get some storms but nothing too bad – although some nights it sounds as if a freight train is being driven through our bedroom. It's a Grade B listed building so we can't have double glazing”.

The light still flashes at Killantringan – a silent sentinel warning mariners away from some of the country's most treacherous shores.

Alth...

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• By : John Cormack
• In : Contemporary Scotland
• Issue : 11
• Page : 40
• Words : 1,200