Property of the Week: Demolished Dunfermline House of Gask restored

Alastair wanted to convert what were more or less dilapidated ruins of an early 19th Century house into his family home.

The property in Lathalmond, Dunfermline, had been demolished in the 1950s and the steading behind had been left to decay over the subsequent 40 years.

But Alastair had a vision for the site and, having already restored six other properties, knew he could do it.

The planning committee eventually agreed and Alastair quickly got to work as part of a three-man team.

Between late winter of 1993 and the spring of 1994, House of Gask became a beautiful four-bedroom family home for Alastair, wife Dorothy and their two daughters and son.

Following more than 20 years there, Dorothy has decided to sell up to be closer to her daughters in Edinburgh after Alastair sadly passed away last June.

“When we purchased the site there was no roof and a tree was growing through the dining room,” Dorothy recalled.

“He restored it very quickly and it became our home.”

Alastair wrote a book, Of Ruins And The Man, in which he recounted each of his property acquisitions and restorations.

What shines through is his attention to detail and lovingly sympathetic approach to Gask as well as the surrounding woodland, which he laid out and planted in great detail with the local wildlife at the forefront of his thoughts.

He used the original stone to rebuild the house, which comprises a reception hallway, library or sitting room with a feature fireplace, a further sitting room with open fireplace, dining room and kitchen.

Upstairs there are two double bedrooms and a shower room.

The original stone isn’t the only thing that gives the house its individuality.

Alastair and his team laid the fireplace in the hall with recovered scones (12in x 12in heavy-fired clay floor tiles locally produced from early times) from the old door to the granary.

The inner hallway leads to a bedroom or study, while a further doorway connects to the east wing, ideal as a granny annexe.

Despite being secluded and sitting within five acres of grounds, including a walled garden with a variety of flowers and shrubs, apple and plum trees on its east wall, and The Gask burn running through the property’s northern boundary, the house is only minutes from the M90.

The property is being sold through Pagan Osborne for offers over £450,000.

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