Location

The small town of Alva lies just 5 miles from Dollar, an attractive market town which offers a good range of shops, primary schooling and other amenities and is also home to the well-known Dollar Academy, an independent school for 5-18 year olds. Other private schools within easy reach include Glenalmond, Strathallan, Kilgraston, Morrison's Academy and The Fairview International School at Bridge of Allan. There are also a number of local primary and secondary state schools nearby.

Bridge of Allan (7.5 miles) is a beautiful and historic spa town with a thriving centre offering a good range of shops, cafés and restaurants including Nick Nairn's. It has numerous sporting facilities including a golf course and tennis club and the town is home to Stirling University which has sports facilities open to the public, including a near Olympic size swimming pool and indoor and outdoor tennis courts. Stirling (9 miles), is the major town of central Scotland. Stirling Castle and the Wallace Monument rise high above the town and are testament to its historic past. Today the town provides a full range of shops and services including several superstores and a branch of Waitrose.
The Loch Lomond and The Trossachs National Park lie to the west with its wealth of outdoor activities including climbing, hill walking, mountain biking, water sports and other outdoor pursuits. The internationally renowned Gleneagles Hotel with its leisure club and golf courses is only 18.5 miles away. Ochil Hills Woodland Park, once the woodland to the Alva estate, provides waymarked forest walks, as do the Ochil Hills themselves which act as a backdrop to the house.

Alva offers good commuting links to Edinburgh and Glasgow, both of which are about 34 miles away and have international airports. Bridge of Allan has a railway station with commuter services to both cities.

All distances are approximate.

Description

The Stables at Alva occupies a charming woodland, hillside setting in the heart of Ochil Hills Woodland Park. The property is thought to have been the original stables for Alva House which was built in the 17th century but demolished during the Second World War. The B Listed stables building is thought to have been constructed in the early 19th century and would once have had stabling for 17 horses as well as two coach houses and harness rooms. The first floor, expanding over the stone archways, would have housed the coachman, butler, gamekeepers and grooms. In the 1980s, the building was restored and converted into the locally renowned Farriers Hotel, with the north elevation constructed to enclose the courtyard. The property was latterly converted in the 1990s to form an impressive family home plus two guest apartments.

The main house today offers well-appointed and flexible living space throughout, with a layout that is easily suited to modern family life. An attractive, historic pend tower sits above the arched entrance with wooden gates that give access to the cobbled courtyard. Large arched windows overlook the courtyard in both the east and west wings. The superb kitchen sits in the north wing, and was upgraded in 2015 by Sculleries of Stockbridge with leathered black granite worktops and splashbacks, double Belfast sink and natural limestone flooring. There is a central island with breakfast bar, and integrated appliances include a four-oven AGA, Bosch electric oven with Schott Ceran hob, two Fisher & Paykel fridge freezers and a Neff dishwasher. The kitchen also includes a generous larder off, and beyond is a utility room which is plumbed for laundry appliances, and a shower room. This links through to the gym and studio in the west wing. The studio has a further WC and useful store cupboard.

The principal reception rooms are situated in the west wing with the main entrance hall in the heart. A library with floor to ceiling bookshelves on two walls sits off the kitchen and connects to the adjacent sitting room. This has two full height, double glazed arched windows to the courtyard and a door to the entrance hall. Both rooms share a double-fronted log burner. A cloakroom and the dining room sit off the entrance hall. The latter has decorative ceiling cornicing and a window overlooking the front garden. Three steps drop down to the spacious drawing room which has two south-facing, arched windows, decorative cornicing and a log burner with pillared surround. A boot room and boiler room sit off the back door.

The staircase has decorative iron balustrades and features a split level, with three double bedrooms all with en suite bath or shower rooms approached by one offshoot. The other leads to a spacious landing, off which is the principal bedroom with dressing room and en suite shower room, the family bathroom with central freestanding bath, and the fifth bedroom, currently used as a study.

Guest Apartments
There are two first floor, self-contained guest flats situated in the west wing of the property. Subject to the required consents, they offer excellent potential as rental properties, overflow accommodation for friends and family, or even integration into the main house.

Guest Flat 1: Approached by an external stone staircase, Flat 1 has three bedrooms, one of which has an en suite shower room, and there is also a separate bathroom. The kitchen has characterful exposed timber beams, and steps leading up to the pend tower sitting room with lovely arched windows.

Guest Flat 2: Approached from the courtyard, an internal staircase leads up. There are two bedrooms, a bathroom and a kitchen/living room.


GARDENS AND GROUNDS

On the north side of the pend is a large workshop. There is a store beyond this, as well as two further useful stores situated off the courtyard. A cobbled pathway along the front of the house provides access to the two front lawns, scattered with a variety of maturing trees and shrubs, and bordered by a neatly kept box hedge. The cobbled pathway then leads through the pend, under the stone archway to the cobbled central courtyard. This is a wonderful and sheltered area for outdoor entertaining.

From the drive, a wooden gate opens to a gravel parking area to the east side of the property. Immediately to the right of the gravel is a an area of wild garden which runs up to the eastern-most boundary, and a wildlife pond. To the north of the house, the wooded ground slopes up the hill, offering stunning view points over the house and the Clackmannanshire countryside beyond. It is a special natural habitat with an abundance of wildlife.