From Bona Lighthouse to bona fide holiday home

• Bona Lighthouse, with its unusual octagonal tower, on the shores of Loch Ness. Pictures: Peter Jolly

However, the historic Bona Lighthouse on the shores of Loch Ness is to be given a new lease of life as a holiday home.

The 19th-century landmark, built by Thomas Telford, was an integral part of the Caledonian Canal, the point where the waterway meets the loch.

After lying empty and neglected for the past eight years it is in line for a 450,000 facelift and a new role accommodating holidaymakers with a sense of heritage.

Work is due to start early next year and the renovated lighthouse is expected to be ready to rent by spring 2012. The main tower will cater for up to five people, while the adjacent stables will sleep two.

The conversion project is a partnership deal between British Waterways Scotland (BWS) and the Hereford-based Vivat Trust.

Laura Norris, director of the trust, said: "Bona is a seriously stunning building in a fantastic setting. Putting it on the holiday let market means heritage is sustainable, it pays for itself with regard to future maintenance, and people get to live in it."

Under the terms of the deal the lighthouse will be open to the public at certain times of the year.

The trust and BWS are each investing 150,000 in the project and 80,000 has been awarded by Historic Scotland towards the refurbishment of the larger property. Further funds are being sought for the stables.

Katie Hughes, BWS's head of property and regeneration, said: "By preserving the integrity of the building whilst giving it a new and relevant use for the future we can ensure this important national treasure and local landmark is enjoyed by the local community, tourists coming to stay or visit and, of course, those travelling along the waterway or towpath by boat, canoe, boot or bike."

Highland Labour MSP David Stewart, who has campaigned to have the lighthouse saved, said the plans are imaginative.

He said: "The site is steeped in the history of the development of the Caledonian Canal.

"It is in a wonderful location but has just suffered from gross neglect."

It is thought the eye-catching octagonal lighthouse was built originally as a toll house around 1815.

The huge project to create the 60-mile link between Inverness and Fort William started in 1803 and opened through to Loch Ness in 1818.

The site included stables for horses which, by 1818, were pulling as many as ten vessels a day along Loch Ness.

In 1843 steam tugs replaced horses and the canal required major upgrading.

The channel at Bona was widened and a lighthouse was added at Fort Augustus in 1847. The first floor was adapted to house a paraffin power light and the property became a lighthouse.

Bona was also reputedly the smallest manned lighthouse in the UK when it opened to guide boats from Loch Ness into the Caledonian Canal.It and Fort Augustus were the only two inland lighthouses in Scotland and among a very small number across the UK.

The light was fuelled by acetylene from 1934 and then electrified in 1964.

It is not clear when the last lighthouse keeper left and the light became automatic or when it was abandoned in favour of a beacon on the headland to the front of the property and buoys with lights were used.

However, it later reverted to a residence before being left empty in 2002.

Old properties given a new lease of life

The National Trust for Scotland rents out two properties in the Mull of Kintyre lighthouse complex as holiday lets, Hector's House and Harvey's House.

The former lighthouse buildings at Cape Wrath, the most north westerly point in the British mainland, have been converted into a cafe, shop and accommodation for John and Kay Ure, the area's only full-rime residents.

In North Ronaldsay in Orkney, the old lighthouse buildings are being converted into an interpretation centre, with caf and shop, holiday accommodation and a wool mill. Cromarty Lighthouse in the Black Isle is used by Aberdeen University as a marine research station.