Tour a beautifully renovated former manse available for holiday rental in a peaceful Borders location

A Church of Scotland heirloom - Cranshaws Manse - fired the Clarkes’ imagination – and chilled them to the marrow.

Cranshaws Manse wasn’t a practical purchase for Suzie and Shaun Clarke but it was a remarkably beautiful one.

The couple were renting in the west of Scotland having moved from Hampshire for Shaun’s job and were looking to buy in the area.

However, having found nothing suitable, in late 2015, Shaun found himself on the Church of Scotland website and came across Cranshaws Manse nestled in the Lammermuir Hills near Duns.

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“The house was just stunning,” Suzie recalls. “I believe it had only just gone on the market. We did some checks to ensure that Shaun could still feasibly commute to work, but of course he hadn’t done the journey at peak time.

"I don’t think we were really thinking straight. By the time we viewed the house we were already sold on it. We turned into the drive and just went, ‘wow’.

"We’re not complete novices, we had viewed other properties, but this one just turned our heads. It was in a bit of a mess inside, but we offered right away.”

Accustomed to the English property market, the Clarkes found the Scottish system incredibly quick.

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“Offer in, done, committed. But maybe that was good for us. We had fallen in love with this house and there was no time to back out.”

The family, which included baby Oscar, moved in just before Christmas. “We were so swept away by the excitement of our first proper home together that we chose to turn a blind eye to many things, including a crucial lack of heating,” says Suzie.

“We have a wonderful picture of Oscar, just managing to sit up, wearing three coats, a beanie woolly hat and gloves perched beside the only heat source, the fireplace in the drawing room.

"The excitement and novelty of camping with a six-month-old soon wore off – luckily it wasn’t long before the heating was functioning again.”

As a previous Church of Scotland property, the house had been relatively well looked after.

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“It wasn’t the sort of property that you start pulling walls down and making huge rooms. We went with what we had, installed a few fireplaces, sorted out the damp, new floors, underfloor heating and added an en-suite bathroom.”

When it came to the original features and replacing them, Suzie took a restrained approach.

“I think the church had sold most of the original features off over the years. There was only one room that had shutters and there was little or no cornicing or ceiling roses.

"We have put some features back to evoke a bygone era, but we’ve not gone all out as I think that the house already had a lovely feel without these features.

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“We did encounter a few problems – not a single wall or floor is straight or flat, and that’s no exaggeration.

"The damp, which had been highlighted in the home report, was also a big issue, and we started with the kitchen as it was the worst affected.

"We ripped everything out and removed the small vestibule that came into the room. We added a few extra details too, such as the window seats, the Georgian-style panelling and the island.

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“We had hoped we were going to be offered the spare pew that was lying redundant in the church at the end of our garden, but when we didn’t get that, we headed off to one of Edinburgh’s many reclamation yards.

"Shaun, who is an engineer, built the kitchen table. The legs came from our old house and he went to the nearby timber yard at Abbey St Bathans and got these lovely ash boards and put it all together. He’s rightly very proud of it.”

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To maximise the views over the farmland and Lammermuir Hills beyond, the couple installed patio doors and the next stage is to add a glazed, oak frame extension leading off the kitchen with a large open fireplace.

“It’s a stunning view but the north wind that comes rushing through can be wild so to be in shelter and enjoy the view would be lovely,” says Suzie.

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Next up were the two reception rooms, which were also very damp. “In the drawing room we wanted to evoke the original Georgian style of the room.

"We removed the carpets, sanded the floor and the carpenters fitted the dado rail, and the electrician some beautiful wall lights from Jim Lawrence.

"We commissioned the fireplace fender from Acres Farm which we were really excited about, and I think it finishes off the room perfectly.

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“It’s the little things that have made the difference in this house. The carpenters did a lot of work around the lovely sash windows which allows the luxurious handmade curtains to hang wider on either side, framing them beautifully and letting in more light.

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"They also built the window seats, the removable oak bookcase at the kitchen island and a custom-made, extra high stable door for canine companions in the utility room – all small touches, but which really add to the overall atmosphere in the house.

"All the curtains and blinds were made by a wonderful lady in Duns and they’re probably some of my favourite things here.”

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Upstairs, the five bedrooms and bathroom weren’t quite up to modern expectations but again Suzie wasn’t keen to make drastic alterations.

“Being a typical Georgian house there were lots of bedrooms and just one big bathroom. We did discuss carving up the bathroom, but for our family needs it suited us to have that lovely large space.

"We added a window seat with storage underneath for the bath toys, which is genuinely practical when you have children.

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"The end bedroom, which is the master, already had a sink in it, so we took the sink out and our magical carpenters created a beautiful en-suite with large built-in cupboards.”

Today, the house more than suits the needs of the family which has grown to include baby Ottilie, but sadly the location no longer does, and Cranshaws Manse is now the Clarkes’ holiday home and let.

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“Our parents live in Wiltshire and we wanted for them to see their grandchildren more often, so we moved down there last August.

"I would love to run the house myself as my background is in the hospitality industry, but not at the moment.

"The next stage is to do the kitchen extension for our guests to enjoy and hopefully us at some point.”

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Cranshaws Manse is available to let through Crabtree & Crabtree.

Words: Nichola Hunter