We may all want an off-grid Highland haven the way things are going '“ leader comment

Perhaps some of us are getting on a bit, but it sometimes seems like there are more reasons than there used to be to 'get away from it all'.

Lochside House has been crowned House Of The Year by the Royal Institute of British Architects (Picture: Richard Fraser/PA)

But, whatever the definition of “it all” – Brexit and its associated turmoil, Vladimir Putin’s warmongering in Ukraine, or maybe just potholes and the daily grind – there is, at a secret location in the West Highlands, a place which sounds like the perfect destination for an escape bid.

Lochside House is a home with an “overwhelming sense of comfort, warmth and homeliness”, according to the chair of the jury for the Royal Institute of British Architects’ House of the Year competition.

This year’s winner has, according to Grand Designs presenter Kevin McCloud, been “seamed into the tapestry” of its wild and remote surroundings, built completely off-grid, with solar power and its own well.

Given all the worries of the modern world, the house’s owner – a ceramic artist named only as Michele – may find its “magical setting” becomes increasingly crowded as people flock there in the hope of being similarly overwhelmed.