The house that helped an ME sufferer to rebuild her life

Elaine Hamilton transformed a ruin into a four-bedroom holiday home.

When Elaine Hamilton was a little girl, she would run across her father’s farmland to the ruins of a property known as Honeymoon Cottage.

Situated on the top of a hill, the stunning views from the old house’s location left her open-mouthed. The Mull of Kintyre, Loch Ryan, Ailsa Craig, the Northern Ireland Peninsula and even the Isle of Man she could see them all.

When Elaine left the Dumfries and Galloway farm located 10 miles from Stranraer to become a nurse, she didn’t expect to return. But life had other plans, and all of the ups and downs she has since faced resulted in her building a stunning four-bedroom holiday home on the site of Honeymoon Cottage.

“My dad died when I was 10 but Mum kept the farm going. My husband had a degree in agriculture and wanted to farm, so he approached my mum about going into partnership. Unfortunately he died in 1997 but I kept the farm running for 13 years.”

When Elaine was 30 she became bedbound with ME.

“My three kids were really young and I was determined to get better for them, so I became really interested in homeopathy and complementary medicines, which helped.”

After her husband died, she decided to study homeopathy.

Elaine, now a homeopathy nurse in Glasgow, sold the farm in 2011. But she kept one piece of the land the area where Honeymoon Cottage once stood and began designing a self-catering holiday home based on her holistic ideals.

“I wanted to promote a healing and relaxing environment, using the principals of feng shui for the colours and materials, inside and out. I worked closely with the architect, making sure the windows were positioned appropriately for the sun rising and so on.”

That’s why the outside of the house is a distinctive colour.

“I’d painted the farmhouse pink while I lived there, so the neighbour wasn’t at all surprised! It’s also that colour to blend in with the environment.”

The property has been given a gold Green Tourism award for its eco credentials, which include using reclaimed wood, having its own water supply (which is heated by solar panels) and using organic paint and LED lights.

Building began in March 2011 and the first guests rented the property, which Elaine called Dundream after an Iron Age fort that featured in an 1849 map, in July 2012. Since then the holiday house has received one five-star rating after another.

“It’s a wee hidden gem and a great place to come for total relaxation,” Elaine continued. “I see people arriving quite tense with their busy, stressed lives. At the end of the holiday, they are different people.”

For more information, go to dundream.com.