Home Farm, Cairness House

Probably dating to around 1780 and subsequently altered, Home Farm at Cairness House is a substantial quadrangular steading located to the north of the slightly later Neo-Classical Cairness House. It comprises rectangular, single-storey and single-storey-with-loft ranges with piend and gabled roofs. The steading is constructed of coursed and squared, pinned rubble with squared quoins and a voussoired segmental cart arch.

The principal elevations face southwest, featuring a central, standalone piended range with asymmetrical openings. To the right of centre, the openings have been enlarged and dormer windows altered. A gable end fronts the long west range, and a further gable is present on the east range. The courtyard elevations retain much of their original detail, including a forestair on the west range. Later lean-to structures now front the northeast range and the north end of the southeast range.

The southeast range largely retains a four-pane glazing pattern in timber sash and case windows, while non-traditional replacement windows were installed in 2008 elsewhere. The roof is covered in grey slates with coped stacks, and the ashlar-coped skews feature some moulded skew putts.

Home Farm is a fine example of early, high-quality construction methods common in Aberdeenshire farm buildings. The use of large squared rubble blocks with distinctive pinning is notable, and the quadrangular plan is less common than the more typical U-plan steading design. Originally known as Barnyards of Cairness, the farm was likely built before Cairness House, potentially by at least a decade, based on maps showing Cairness House only partly built. It is now considered to have been built no earlier than 1781, correcting a previous misdating to 1791. The farm's construction reflects the “Improvement” farming movement, suggesting an interest in modern agricultural practices by Charles Gordon of Buthlaw, for whom it was originally built.