{"id":20834,"date":"2023-04-26T09:30:43","date_gmt":"2023-04-26T07:30:43","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.homesandantiques.com\/?p=42297"},"modified":"2023-04-26T09:36:43","modified_gmt":"2023-04-26T07:36:43","slug":"a-treasure-filled-home-in-the-scottish-highlands","status":"publish","type":"rss_feed","link":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/homesantiques\/rss_feed\/a-treasure-filled-home-in-the-scottish-highlands\/","title":{"rendered":"A treasure-filled home in the Scottish Highlands"},"content":{"rendered":"

Anja and Jan Jacob left the Netherlands for a new life in a characterful, treasure-filled house in the Scottish Highlands. Feature Chantal Hintze Photographs Ivar Janssen Production Features & More Styling Wilma Custers <\/p>

By Christianne Raymer\n \t\t<\/p>

Published: Wednesday, 26 April 2023 at 12:00 am<\/p>

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We\u2019re not the long-term planning types. We tend to go with the opportunities that present themselves,\u2019 says Anja Baak, explaining how, 20 years ago, she and her husband Jan Jacob came to leave their home in the Netherlands<\/a> in order to start a new life in the Scottish Highlands<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The first of these opportunities was a chance encounter with a fellow countryman, who had bought a Highland estate and offered Jan Jacob the job as his estate manager.<\/p>\n

The couple leapt at the chance to embrace a more outdoorsy life in a less densely populated country, little knowing that it was the first step on the journey that would not only lead to the whitewashed cottage that is now their home, but also to a future business venture \u2013 Great Glen Charcuterie.<\/p>\n

\u2018Even after all these years, I still get that wow feeling when I drive up to the house,\u2019 says Anja, and it\u2019s easy to see why \u2013 tucked away in the hills around Lochaber, with spectacular views of the surrounding countryside, the house sits in splendid isolation. Only those in the know venture up the gravel drive that leads to the front door.<\/p>\n

Jan Jacob had known about the property for a while, having chanced upon it some years earlier while out walking. \u2018He loved it so much that he immediately enquired about who owned it, only to be told they were definitely not going to sell,\u2019 Anja recalls.<\/p>\n

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But some years later, in 2010, when the estate changed hands for the third time, the couple decided it was time to focus on their own business, Great Glen Charcuterie, a small venture they had established as a sideline. However, giving up the job on the estate also meant giving up their home.<\/p>\n

As luck would have it, a friend told them the house that was seemingly unobtainable had just come onto the market. They wasted no time and arranged to view it the next day \u2013 and found themselves moving in just three weeks later.<\/p>\n

The property, designed by the architect Ian Gordon Lindsay, dates to 1937. Described as a cottage, the house is a mass of curious contradictions and feels far grander than one might expect. In addition, its wonderful features, such as the built-in bookcases and open fireplaces<\/a>, make it feel older than it is.<\/p>\n

All of this is a reflection of the architect\u2019s desire to create a modest house in a baronial style. \u2018The staircase was probably the thing that sold the house to us,\u2019 says Anja. \u2018It has such a castle-like feel.\u2019<\/p>\n

Since moving in eight years ago, the couple have created a home that combines this fortress-style splendour with bags of rustic charm. Today, for instance, the sweeping curve of the staircase is decorated with antlers from local roe deer.<\/p>\n

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Wherever possible, Anja and Jan Jacob chose to retain the property\u2019s original features, and fragments of the original decoration informed the choices they made when they came to update the interior.<\/p>\n

While removing old wallpaper<\/a> in the dining room, they discovered a layer of vibrant turquoise paint<\/a> and decided to redecorate the room in a colour that was close to the original. Trying to maintain this sense of history, Anja made the curtains from a Morris & Co<\/a> fabric designed at around the time the house was built.<\/p>\n

\u2018We like timeless pieces that are well made,\u2019 she says, pointing to their old leather sofa, which came with them from the Netherlands. Their furniture is a mix of pieces picked up at the local auction<\/a> and things they have made for themselves, such as their bed and the dining table. \u2018And I can never walk past a skip without peeping in,\u2019 she laughs.<\/p>\n

Renovating the property while also establishing their business has meant that some areas of the house have only just been finished. The vintage<\/a> bath, which they acquired even before they\u2019d bought the house, sat on the landing for several years before it was installed.<\/p>\n

Anja and Jan Jacob have no regrets about moving to Scotland. And while the faint trace of an accent suggests they\u2019ve come from afar, they are happy to call the Highlands their home.<\/p>\n

\""Scottish\"<\/picture><\/div>
Only those in the know can find their way to Anja and Jan Jacob\u2019s house, as it is tucked away among the hills. The house sits in a one acre plot of land. Beyond that, there is nothing but open countryside and the mountains in the distance.<\/span> <\/figcaption> Ivar Janssen<\/i> <\/span>\n<\/div> <\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>
\""Scottish\"<\/picture><\/div>
The couple discovered the vibrant turquoise shade beneath the old wallpaper they were removing and decided to replicate this colour when they repainted the dining room.<\/span> <\/figcaption> Ivar Janssen<\/i> <\/span>\n<\/div> <\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>
\""Scottish\"<\/picture><\/div>
The built-in bookcases with their arched tops are an original feature of the house. The mismatched chairs around the dining table have been acquired over the years from local auction houses; the cyanotype print of the cottage was made by local artist Ali Berardelli.<\/span> <\/figcaption> Ivar Janssen<\/i> <\/span>\n<\/div> <\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>
\""Scottish\"<\/picture><\/div>
\u2018We like timeless pieces that are well made, such as the leather sofa that we brought over from the Netherlands,\u2019 says Anja.<\/span> <\/figcaption> Ivar Janssen<\/i> <\/span>\n<\/div> <\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>
\""Scottish\"<\/picture><\/div>
Built in 1937 in Roy Bridge in the Highlands, the house is arranged over three floors. On the ground floor there is a sitting room, a kitchen, a dining room and an office. Upstairs there are six bedrooms and two bathrooms.<\/span> <\/figcaption> Ivar Janssen<\/i> <\/span>\n<\/div> <\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>
\""Scottish\"<\/picture><\/div>
Anja Baak lives here with her husband, Jan Jacob, and their sons, Jochem (17), Walter (15) and Lennard (11). Their second daughter Pieternel (21) also lives at home, and Rosalieke and Anne-Marije are at university. Anja and Jan Jacob set up Great Glen Charcuterie (greatglencharcuterie.com) 15 years ago.<\/span> <\/figcaption> Ivar Janssen<\/i> <\/span>\n<\/div> <\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>
\""Scottish\"<\/picture><\/div>
In the kitchen, the Esse range cooker is well and truly the heart of the house. \u2018It\u2019s a woodburning oven, so it\u2019s always on with something simmering in the bottom, or bread or a pie being baked,\u2019 says Anja.<\/span> <\/figcaption> Ivar Janssen<\/i> <\/span>\n<\/div> <\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>
\""Scottish\"<\/picture><\/div>
Aside from the more formal dining room, the kitchen is a more relaxed place to gather and eat as a family.<\/span> <\/figcaption> Ivar Janssen<\/i> <\/span>\n<\/div> <\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>
\""Scottish\"<\/picture><\/div>
Anja consults one of her many cookery books for mealtime inspiration.<\/span> <\/figcaption> Ivar Janssen<\/i> <\/span>\n<\/div> <\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>
\""Scottish\"<\/picture><\/div>
A Highland life would not be complete without a walking stick and, over the course of nearly two decades, Jan Jacob has amassed quite a collection.<\/span> <\/figcaption> Ivar Janssen<\/i> <\/span>\n<\/div> <\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>
\""Scottish\"<\/picture><\/div>
Unusually for a house built in 1937, the staircase is made of concrete. Roe deer antlers add to the baronial effect.<\/span> <\/figcaption> Ivar Janssen<\/i> <\/span>\n<\/div> <\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>
\""Scottish\"<\/picture><\/div>
Anja and Jan Jacob made the bed in the master bedroom themselves, with some help from videos on YouTube. They upholstered it in a Liberty fabric.<\/span> <\/figcaption> Ivar Janssen<\/i> <\/span>\n<\/div> <\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>
\""Scottish\"<\/picture><\/div>
Jan Jacob chose the bathroom\u2019s scheme \u2013 a rust hue for the restored bath and Henley floor tiles from Topps Tiles.<\/span> <\/figcaption> Ivar Janssen<\/i> <\/span>\n<\/div> <\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div> <\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>

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