Vuitton packs his bags as £4.25m Highland estate goes up for sale

THE Highland hideaway of a member of the Louis Vuitton fashion dynasty has been put on the market, at offers of more than £4.25 million.

Selling agents are encouraged by the level of interest in Dalchully Estate, near Laggan, Inverness-shire – despite the price tag and the credit crunch.

The 5,000-acre estate was bought for 1.9 million less than ten years ago by Eighton Estates, a company owned by Xavier-Louis Vuitton.

Mr Vuitton, who also owns the nearby Gaick Estate, has carried out extensive improvements to Dalchully costing an estimated 1 million since 2002.

He has decided to sell after buying the 6,000-acre Fordie Estate, near Comrie, Perthshire, where he plans to make similar improvements.

John Lambert, of the Edinburgh-based chartered surveyor John Clegg and Co, said Dalchully was one of only two or three sporting estates of similar calibre on the market.

Inquiries have come from across the UK, as well as Europe and the United States.

"With the euro so strong against the pound at the moment, it is producing some interest from the continent and there are also one or two buyers in the market from the States," he said.

"I have yet to come across anyone who is not affected by the credit crunch, but if you can buy a Highland sporting estate, by definition, you are an exceptionally wealthy person.

"However, there is definitely more caution about. People are saying they can afford to do it but are wondering if they should be doing it in the current climate.

"It's difficult to say how the level of interest will convert at the end of the day (into a purchase] in this market, but it has been encouraging."

The estate is for sale as a whole or as four smaller lots: the 67-acre Coul Farm (at offers over 650,000), the 3,382-acre Coul Hill deer forest (900,000), the 1,000-acre Craighoolet estate (1.25 million) and 470 acres of Dalchully (1.45 million).

The estate, described as a "sporting man's heaven on earth", has grouse shooting and red deer stalking, as well as trout fishing on the Spey.

Dalchully is understood to be the second oldest house in Badenoch, having been built in the latter half of the 17th century. The name derives from the Gaelic Dail-chuilidh, meaning "a fertile or safe hollow".

The lodge, set in a secluded position near the Spey, was originally the seat of John Macpherson and was remodelled for the Hon Lady Jane, daughter of Lord Lovat.

She was married to Cluny Macpherson, who helped Bonnie Prince Charlie to escape to France after his defeat at Culloden in 1746.

At that time, the land formed part of the vast estates of the dukes of Gordon. In 1835, it was sold to James Euan Baillie by the duke's trustees, who were forced to sell off land to pay his debts.

Sir John Ramsden bought some of the property in 1870 and Dalchully became part of the Ardverikie Estate, known to viewers of the television series Monarch of the Glen, until 1955 when it was sold to a Captain Anderson. There have since been five owners.

Mr Vuitton has added Craighoolet House, a modern home in a private position, with stunning southerly views.