Interiors: Bank House, Thornhill

Bank House in Thornhill is an interesting property with interesting residents. A B&B and home to Ed Baxter and Jane Buckley, Bank House, as its name suggests, is a former bank and unusually retains many original features.

The couple bought the property in 2005 after running a fishing hotel for three years and a period living in Edinburgh. Thornhill seems a surprisingly quiet location for Ed, who earned his living as a studio photographer in London and who taught David Bailey how to use a large-format camera, but this photographer and artist is also passionate about fishing.

"The main reason I came here was for the fishing," says Ed. "When I lived in England I travelled up here at least once a month to fish and I always knew I'd move to Scotland eventually."

He adds: "I loved the house as well; it had space for me to work, my studio is in the old banking hall, and with three storeys we thought immediately that we could do bed and breakfast as well."

The house and garden are a great example of diversification. Ed still works as a photographer; indeed, his introduction to the community was a "Men at Work in Thornhill" calendar, as he explains: "If you've seen Calendar Girls you'll know what I mean!

"My first job in Thornhill was to meet and photograph 11 local lads with no clothes on, and I was the 12th. I got to know quite a few people!"

His artistic talents also extend to painting, and his work will be on display during Dumfries & Galloway's Spring Fling next month. He's also a fully qualified fly casting instructor – so any guests needing tips or tuition know where to come – and in his spare time he's renovating Bank House and running the B&B along with Jane, who works full-time for the police, in administration.

The first phase of the renovations transformed the first floor into B&B accommodation consisting of three bedrooms with en suites and one bedroom for Jane and Ed. Although the property ceased to be a bank in the 1970s, planning permission still took a while to be obtained, but Ed and Jane are accentuating the unusual features rather than removing them.

Ed says: "I use the old banking hall as my studio and the bank manager's office is a Mac suite where I base the photographic courses. The bank manager's office is also where the walk-in strong room is, with the most amazing key, and where I store my cameras.

"The bank manager used to live in this house and the safe is located under his bedroom on the first floor. There used to be a little lever under his bedroom floor so the vault was double locked. What is really bizarre is that they went to all that trouble to double lock the safe, and all the doors and shutters on the ground floor are metal-lined, but the door from the hallway into the banking hall is glass!"

Elsewhere on the ground floor is a kitchen, a quirky, low-ceilinged dining room (home to one of Ed's treasured possessions: a Thames sea trout displayed in a bow-fronted case), utility room and lounge. The lounge, hall and banking hall double as gallery space, with Ed's newer work juxtaposed with photographs of Ian Dury, and Rolling Stones and Who memorabilia. At the moment this floor is a work in progress and Ed is desperate to decorate, but one can see from what Ed and Jane have achieved on the B&B level that, when finished, it will be something special.

When it came to decorating the B&B accommodation, the couple let the light and the shape of the rooms define the theme.

"Jane chose the dcor for the two large bedrooms, but rather than having them either the same or a similar theme she felt that each room lent itself to a completely different style, hence we have a very modern room and a more traditional, opulent, Victorian one. Although I have the artistic career, Jane has a very good eye."

With their grand proportions and double aspect views, the rooms are spacious and very light – in fact they don't really fit the description "B&B". These are rooms that guests can run around in and stay in all day, and indeed in the Victorian room, you can bathe in the bedroom and shower in the en suite.

Despite doing all the decorating himself, the new bedrooms are purely for guests, so Ed's next task is to create a separate suite on the attic level for Jane and him.

"Although this is a huge house, we have no storage space, so the attic rooms have been used for that, but they will eventually become a bedroom, dressing room and bathroom. This is a house that I would describe as getting there."

For more details, tel: [phone], www.bankhousethornhill.co.uk; Ed is exhibiting at this year's Spring Fling (29-31 May) at Studio 61, Bank House Studio, 95a Drumlanrig Street, Thornhill. To see more of Ed's work, visit www.ed-baxter-photography.co.uk; for photographic courses, visit www.photosws.co.uk

• This article was first published in The Scotsman Magazine, April 24, 2010