Location

Rathmore is set in Kennedy Gardens which is a single sided street on the brow of a hill above the North Haugh Campus of the University of St Andrews. It has an outlook to the north over the St Andrews golf courses and out to sea and to the south over gardens to the houses behind.

Kennedy Gardens is a side street off Hepburn Gardens and has the Wardlaw Hall of the University of St Andrews at its end. The street is characterised by large villas in small plots, taking advantage of views to both the north and south. It is well placed for the town centre with Market Street and the bus station being only 200 metres walk through Kinburn Park.   

The 18th fairway of the world-famous Old Course is within 600 metres walk of the house. The Royal and Ancient Golf Clubhouse is at its head and the West Sands Beach is just beyond. Cockshaugh Park, on the opposite side of Hepburn Gardens, links to the Lade Braes footpath which runs from the centre of town all the way out into the countryside where it is known as the Pilgrim's Way.

St Andrews is renowned worldwide as the Home of Golf. The Old Course is a regular host to the Open Championship which will next be staged there in July 2027. There are six further golf courses run by the St Andrews Links Trust, in addition to the many other golf courses in the area including the Duke's Course, two courses at Fairmount, St Andrews Bay, Kingsbarns and Dumbarnie.

The town is well known for its university which was Scotland's first university and the third oldest in the English-speaking world, founded in 1413. There is state schooling at Madras College and private schooling at St Leonards and The High School of Dundee. Leuchars railway station (4 miles) is on the main Aberdeen to London line and provides a fast link to Dundee and Edinburgh. Edinburgh Airport is 50 miles away.

Description

The North Flat is on the first floor of a converted Victorian house called Rathmore. Rathmore is described as a good example of the work of the architect John Milne (1823-1904). Milne produced the Feuing Plan of 1857 which shows that Rathmore was built for Mr Andrew Aikman, founder of the St Andrews grocery firm Aikman & Terras.

Rathmore is a large villa with idiosyncratic Gothic detailing and a dominant tower which gives it a distinctive profile. The quality of the design, such as the decorative timber bargeboards and tower, highlights the building's prominence in the streetscape. The upper stage of the central tower was added in around 1900 to provide a viewing platform towards the renowned golf courses.

Plans dated 1906 by the Edinburgh-based architect Charles Stewart Still Johnston show additions and internal alteration being made at this period. Johnston and Milne both worked with the celebrated Baronial architect David Bryce. Walker & Pride, the St Andrews based architects, were involved in the subdivision of the building on behalf of the St Andrews Building Company in the 1930s.

The accommodation of the North Flat comprises:

Front door to shared vestibule with glazed inner doors and stairs up to first floor landing. The door to North Flat is on the right.

Entrance hall with hatch to loft space. Bedroom 1 with built in wardrobe and en suite shower room with electric shower, washbasin, WC, heated towel rail and cupboard.

Inner vestibule. Kitchen with sliding door. Sink under window with views out over the sea and golf course and fitted (but dated) units. Dining room with built in cupboard and fitted wardrobes. Linen cupboard with hot water cylinder.

Drawing room with bay window, decorative cornice and fireplace with ornate wooden mantel, marble inset and gas fire with Baxi back boiler.

Two further bedrooms, one with a corner fireplace and built in wardrobe. Bathroom with electric shower over bath, washbasin, WC and heated towel rail.

Outside

The front gravel has in and out gates and a pathway to the shared front door. A paved drive leads down the west side of the house to the gravel parking areas and private garages behind.

North Flat owns the car port, an area of garden and a paved area in the back corner of the garden. It also owns the semi-circular shrub bed opposite the front door and a 1/5th share of a triangular area of land across the street.

Directions

From the roundabout at the end of Market Street in the centre of St Andrews head west on Double Dykes Road. Just before the junction with Hepburn Gardens turn right into Kennedy Gardens. Follow Kennedy Gardens around the corner. The entrance to Rathmore is halfway along on the left-hand side.