Interiors: Eilean Shona House

A PRIVATE Scottish island that has inspired writers and artists is for hire. So what are you waiting for?

Robert Devereux’s dream of owning an island could have been wishful thinking, but time and determination made it a reality. Brought up in the English Borders, Devereux grew up with a love of wild, rugged countryside and it’s here that he thinks his obsession started, as he explains: “I spent a lot of time walking in the country with my mother and that’s all I can trace it back to, but for some reason from about my early twenties I was obsessed with buying a Scottish island and it had to be both of these things – it had to be Scottish and it had to be an island.”

By his early thirties, Devereux’s financial position meant he could start looking in earnest. However, by this time he was married to Vanessa Branson, Richard Branson’s sister, and she wasn’t entirely convinced that buying a Scottish island was a good idea. “My wife thought me completely barking and I used to hide the particulars when they came in. However, by early 1994, I realised I wasn’t going to find an island by myself so I employed a friend to do the searches and it was he who found Eilean Shona. The viewing appointment coincided with a family trip to Mull so I lured Vanessa with a stay at Inverlochy Castle if she would consider a detour to Eilean Shona. She generously agreed and we came and looked at the island. I knew that within ten minutes I was either going to buy it or decide the whole thing was a complete fantasy.”

Eilean Shona is located at the entrance of Loch Moidart on Scotland’s west coast. The writer JM Barrie rented the island in the 1920s and wrote the screenplay for the 1924 film adaptation of Peter Pan while he was there. “It has the feeling of being very remote because you’re on your own, there are no cars and there’s nobody else here other than our guests and our staff but actually it’s very accessible. It’s an hour to the pier from Fort William and it’s a four-minute boat ride across the water. It’s also a fairly protected crossing as it’s very sheltered which means that seldom can we not get onto the island.”

Eilean Shona House, which the Devereuxs have now made their holiday home, was originally a modest shooting lodge which was extended by Robert Lorimer in the 1890s. Additions included a billiard room, drawing room, dining room, the front hall and the kitchen. “Structurally we haven’t done anything to the house, it’s exactly as we bought it,” Devereux recalls. “We’ve had to do some extensive work on the roof, renew all the plumbing and electrics and redecorate, but actually it’s a brilliantly designed property. It’s a large house (eight bedrooms and five bathrooms) but it’s extremely usable. I’m often here on my own and it never feels like you’re rattling around in it.”

Living on an island is not without its challenges however, especially when you have an entire house to fill with furniture. “At the beginning we had a barge for taking over furniture which was very handy,” says Devereux. “Unfortunately the barge sank in a storm about six years ago. However, you’d be amazed how much you can get on a six-metre rib with some strong men and a lot of ingenuity. Very occasionally, if we’re doing major building work, we’ll rent a larger vessel from Glenuig. There are other options as well. For example, we’ve just done a large planting project – 120,000 new trees and we had them helicoptered onto the island because that was the most economical way to do it.”

When it came to the interior décor the couple wanted Eilean Shona House to offer something rather special and so they took their inspiration from the art world as Devereux explains: “Both Vanessa and I are very keen collectors. Vanessa used to have a gallery and I’m the chairman of Frieze Art Fair which takes place every October in Regent’s Park in London, so the visual arts are a very important part of our life. The dining room was painted by Fred Pollock, a successful abstract artist in the Eighties and someone whom Vanessa was representing. He came and spent a month or two on the island and painted the dining room. Although we’ve commissioned artists to work in other properties, this is probably the most extreme example of it. We had quite a good idea of what we were going to get but of course there’s quite a difference between a canvas and a whole room. Twenty years later, we’re still not bored of it and all our guests love it.

“We commission artists and designers quite a lot and for me, the best way to do that is not to provide too tight a brief. The driftwood bed is from a Scottish design company called Precious McBain. In a way, this bed reflects the maritime position that the house finds itself in, but it was very much the designer’s inspiration. I feel that it combines a casual, seaside feel but fits in very nicely with the grand proportions of the room.”

Other artworks and well-known names fill the property and Eilean Shona House seems to inspire all who stay to create. “Henry Kondracki painted a picture of the pier with my son fishing off the end of it when he stayed and there’s a Margaret Hunter sculpture as well. Pieces have been added over the years as people have come to visit and inspiration has struck. The staircase is a particularly interesting example which was painted by the local decorator. He did all the detailing which wasn’t in the brief and it was very much on his own initiative. With hindsight, I think he was more of an artist than a decorator.”

The colour palette throughout the house is bright and bold but as Devereux says: “They’re big rooms with high ceilings and they can take strong colours. In other parts of our lives we have to be more minimalist, but here we definitely didn’t want to do that. It wasn’t a terribly conscious decision; the house has just evolved. It’s first and foremost a family home and we let it only for about ten weeks of the year to help with the substantial costs of maintaining it.”

Eilean Shona House isn’t the family’s main residence but all are equally smitten by the island’s appeal. “It’s fulfilled all my dreams; there are so many things I love about being there,” Devereux says. “It’s an amazing place to share with friends and family. Our four children have made it clear that we can sell any of our assets but never Eilean Shona – that must always stay in the family.”

• The cost to hire Eilean Shona House is £500 per person per week with a minimum hire cost of £3,000. For further information, visit www.eilean shona.com