Prestige viewing: Old Mill of Newton, Clatt, Aberdeenshire

Old Mill of Newton, Clatt, Aberdeenshire o/o £260,000

It underwent a major refurbishment in 2013 with more improvements in the last year.

The former working water mill on the banks of the Gadie Burn now has an open-plan kitchen, dining and sitting room on the ground floor, plus an ensuite bedroom, and two further bedrooms plus two bathrooms upstairs.

Owner Julie Clarke bought it last year and says: “I was moving back up from England. I’m into interiors and if I don’t have a house to do something to I go a bit stir crazy.

“I absolutely fell in love with the Old Mill and, although it had been well looked after, I saw potential to improve it further.”

Another attraction was the small paddock to rent next door for Julie’s two Shetland ponies, Wilfred and Hugo. Kept as pets, they roam the garden too and come for treats to the cottage’s French windows .

The biggest changes she has made to the house have been on the outside.

Julie explains: “There was a tool and log store running along the front which detracted from the look, so I took it off and replaced it with a grey-wash timber porch to complement the colour of the stone.

“The tool store is still there, but it is tucked on to the gable end so it is out of sight.”

At the rear of the house, a huge slope from one end to the other – which gives the appearance of the house being built into the hillside –was another problem that Julie turned into an opportunity. She explains: “ I knew it would cost an arm and a leg to dig out, resulting in having to shore up the whole garden, so instead I made it into a feature by adding an elevated wood and stone deck where the mill wheel would have been.

“It is an amazing sun trap, facing south-southwest and on the some of the days we’ve had recently I’ve described it as a factor-50 platform!”

A pergola was added at the end of the house where a door leads from the master bedroom. Julie, who is a former French teacher, says the influence for inside and out here was Provence. “The bedroom is in a really Provencal style with the modern four-poster, there is lavender outside and climbing plants which hopefully will grow up to provide shade.”

The French influences temper a more Scandinavian style. Julie explains: “Although I like the Scandi look, I’m not so minimalist, and I don’t like twee.

“I like to take the features of an older property and make it more contemporary, and I really love painted furniture. I repainted the kitchen units in a lighter hue and rewaxed them.”

Wood is a feature throughout the Old Mill, with an elm staircase leading up from the open-plan living area, oak flooring on the upper floor and beautiful exposed beams in the upstairs bedrooms.

The kitchen and living space is floored with cathedral-style limestone tiles, and there is underfloor heating on both storeys.

The large roof light windows, which illuminate the bedrooms upstairs, were refurbished too. Julie says: “The one above the roll-top bath is lovely and you can lie back and watch the clouds roll or spot The Plough in a starry sky.”

The garden is extensive and a haven for wildlife. A summer house reveals another passion of Julie’s. “It reminds me of an alpine chalet. Currently it is mainly used for storage but – had I been stayinghere – it has an upstairs with a big picture window and I was hoping to make that into a studio or office by putting in a proper staircase.”

The view, over the cone-shaped peak of The Buck of Cabrach, means this is yet another lovely spot in a home that has so many.

- Old Mill of Newton, Clatt, Aberdeenshire o/o £260,000.

For more information, contact Strutt & Parker on 01738 564782.