The Strath in January
Strathmashie House wears its past like a good tweed
So writes Tim Dawson in the Sunday Times, October 1999...
On the hunt for Victorian Highland chic
"...At its core is a 17th century farmhouse. With the arrival of wealthy Victorians, this was entirely enveloped by a much larger building. The exterior of the lodge has two styles. To the south and west it is a tight, economical composition of white harled walls, stone-mullioned windows and a spiky roof line. The barge boards that sit in the gable ends could not be simpler, nor could the porch supported on wooden columns with a plain finial.
Approached from the roadside, service buildings and a holiday cottage surround a cobbled courtyard. Here the stone has been left open to the elements, creating a golden-walled enclosure. With its hanging barn doors, unusually shaped windows and irregular paving, the court-yard evokes a sunny rural idyll..."
The Spartan Press Distribution Office
Spartan Press
Mark and Pat Goddard (directors of Spartan Press) had been scouring the Inverness area for two years prior to 1999, searching for such a property to accommodate a gently burgeoning family and music publishing business as part of an eighteen year old dream to live and work in the Highlands. Strathmashie, finally purchased for Spartan Press in November 1999, represents the attainment of that dream. The mini-estate is secluded and beautiful yet highly accessible given the proximity of the A86 trunk road (single track in places). In the winter, many similar shooting lodges are cut off by snow, but the EU trunk road status means that the snow ploughs keep coming - and so does the "Postie"!
The dining room has became a spacious sales office and the victorian kitchens the print room. The East Wing and the stables have been converted for bulk book storage with a "Goods In" across the seventeenth century cobbled courtyard: no fork lift trucks here!
The South end of the house is occupied by the Goddards with the grand hall forming a perfect no-man's-land between family and business. The five acres of grounds are perfect for spontaneous staff football matches and family picnics.
The Keeper's Cottage and Butler's Flat were already beautifully renovated as holiday cottages, which they continue to be. In the grounds, work has started to restore an Edwardian Pavilion, with its own view of the Pictish Fort on Black Craig.