OUR PLANS
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House
Sandside has now been restored, retaining some of the original features, but also making it a comfortable place to live, with modern conveniences.
Work started with the replacement of the roof, which was a major undertaking, requiring skilled craftsmen to work on the Caithness slate. At the same time all the windows were replaced. The interior has been totally gutted and restored. The original lathe and plaster linings to the walls has been replaced with modern insulation and plasterboard walls, but has been redecorated in sympathy with the period of the original house. Click here for information on work underway.
The outer walls are nearly 3ft thick, which provide good insulation, but all the inner walls have been replaced. The interior was designed to meet our requirements, and so it was fascinating to find that some walls and doors have been put back into their original places. The rooms are a mixture of communal spaces and quiet places and all with wonderful scenic backdrops.
There is a Sun Lounge at the back of the house, this links the outbuildings to the main house, as well as giving a place to sit and contemplate the scenery and as a home for many house plants, as well as a place to grow seeds for the garden. The outbuildings have been made into guest bedrooms.
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Proposed Plans of Interior |
Elevations |
Post Office
There is an adjoining door from the house into the building which until 2000 contained the Post Office, which has now relocated to another site on Graemsay.
Land
Sandside has a field of about 5.5 acres, which is used for summer grazing for a neighbouring farmer. The hen house is nearby and the chickens are allowed complete free access and wander about the land. It's wonderful having fresh eggs, and the chickens are such characters. Fortunately with very thick walls to the house the sound of the cockerel is not too intrusive!
Sandside has its own
Well, although the water hasn't been tested
for quality. However there are a number of crofts on the island that do
use well water still, so it may be useful as an emergency supply.
Garden
The Garden is 100 ft x 100 ft and in recent years has been used to graze a house cow or the occasional sheep. All that is growing in the garden at present are one small tree, two rhubarb plants, and a lot of grass and weeds, which are providing an interesting environment for Fitzi-cat. He hasn't really adapted from being a pampered house-bound city cat, but does enjoy basking in the sun among the long grasses.
The "garden" is used as a temporary lambing pen in the spring, and occasionally a "caddy" lamb will live there till it is returned to the flock.
I stull muse upon the prospect of a Poly Tunnels
but haven't turned musing into reality - yet! However I have started a
small garden outside the main garden, with shrubs that grow well in Orkney, such
as rosa rugosa, hebe, fuschia, and willow trees. I have a small group of
willow trees growing at the front of the house which I laughingly call "The
Sandside Woodland Project"!
The dry-stone wall that encloses the garden stands over 5 ft in places. It is in need of some restoration but is full of character, with lichens and mosses covering many stones. The wall has a well established shrub Lycium barbarum (Duke of Argyll's Teaplant) growing through it near to the house. This is quite an unusual plant and probably the only on on Graemsay.
The Steading is still owned by Arthur Ritch and is used for over wintering cattle. Previously it was the original site of the dwelling house at Sandside.