Billy Connolly selling his £3m Scottish house

COMEDIAN Billy Connolly has put his Scottish mansion up for sale for almost £3 million.

Candacraig House, Aberdeenshire. Picture: Contributed

The comedian and his wife, Pamela Stephenson, have decided to sell Candacraig House, the baronial home in Aberdeenshire that they bought in 1998, and where he enjoyed fly fishing in his own river.

The actor and comedian used the property as a Highland retreat and often hosted famous guests there including Robin Williams, Steve Martin and Ewan McGregor.

The 12-bedroom property in Strathdon is set in 14 acres of grounds, and includes a walled garden and a croquet lawn.

Billy Connolly receiving the Freedom of the City of Glasgow in August 2010. Picture: Robert Perry

The 17th-century house is advertised by estate agents Savills for offers over £2.75 million.

Interior pictures show rooms decorated in an exuberant though traditional Scottish style.

The extensive dining room, which can seat 16 on red tartan draped chairs, has green tartan walls on which an array of stags’ antlers hang.

The bedrooms also have a tartan theme and boast four-poster beds with fabric curtains and traditional oak furniture.

The entrance hall has exposed stone walls, a winding staircase and chandeliers.

Last year, the celebrity couple started renting out the property as they were spending less and less time there.

For £3,950, groups of up to 11 people could hire the house for one night and have a three-course dinner cooked by the resident chef.

In the sales brochure the house is described as “a traditional Scots baronial mansion house built of harled stone under a slate roof with pepper pot turrets and steep pitched roofs”.

The brochure continues: “The house has fine reception rooms, including a magnificent timber-panelled drawing room with a highly decorative plaster ceiling and a panelled library beyond.

“These two rooms and the dining room are to the front of the house and are reached off a long picture gallery. To the rear of the house are a large family kitchen and an office/utility room. A passageway with historic carved timber panelling leads to a billiard room.

“The master bedroom suite is above the drawing room at the west end of the house. A long passage served by three separate staircases leads to the other bedrooms.”

The estate is available to buy in its entirety or as two separate lots. The main house is on the market for offers over £2 million and four cottages situated on the grounds have an asking price of £750,000.

Connolly, 70, bought Candacraig House from Body Shop founder Anita Roddick for £590,000 15 years ago and then spent an additional £500,000 buying up the neighbouring properties in order to ensure greater privacy.

Yesterday, Jamie Macnab, of Savills, said: “It is absolutely gorgeous, in the most stunning position and money has been lavished on it over the years.”

Earlier this year a workman on the property tweeted that he was working on Connolly’s house but it was spotted by Connolly who warned him off.

The comedian now spends most of his time at his apartment in New York but recently said he was considering moving to the south coast of England.

He said: “I’ve been a moving target for a long, long time. It suits me lovely, but recently I’ve been thinking about moving back to Britain. I don’t know why but it’s been calling on me. I just feel this tug, it keeps coming into my mind. I thought about Brighton a lot. ”