Building record MHG55528 - Balvenie Cottage, Boat of Garten

Wooden house, on sleeper foundations, which has been rendered. Single storey building with front porch and corrugated tin roof. The adjoining sheds are of the same construction, which show the original woodwork. One adjoining shed has been incorporated into the cottage in order to extend the size of the bedroom. Original internal woodwork has been painted; some areas have been plaster boarded.

The building must date after the introduction of the railway (1863). The houses on either side (Corrour and Harari) also have buildings with sleeper foundations in their grounds. Local tradition is that the sleeper buildings were original constructed as wash houses for the main house. Later they were often extended and developed into small houses in their own right, which were occupied during the summer months by the owners whilst they let out the main house for visitors.

Balvenie Cottage is one of a number of 'sleeper' buildings built from railway sleepers, or on railway sleeper foundations, in Boat of Garten and Badenoch and Strathspey. See Jackie Wilson's report for the ARCH Community Timeline course, 2011. <1>

A photographic survey was carried out in 2013 as a condition of a planning application for the removal of the existing bothy and single garage and the erection of a new garage and accomodation. <2>