Melgum Lodge

Melgum Lodge is a large, half-timbered shooting lodge dating from around 1900, designed by George Bennett Mitchell in the style of an Arts and Crafts alpine chalet. It is constructed in rendered granite and is arranged as a roughly L-shaped plan with two storeys and an attic. The upper storey is half-timbered and overhanging, supported by shaped timber brackets. The window openings are predominantly bipartite or tripartite with timber mullions, and taller windows include timber transoms. Small attic windows are located in the apex of the gables on the north and south elevations, and the gables feature moulded timber bargeboards.

The west-facing entrance elevation is roughly three bays wide, with a shallow gable breaking the roof eaves centrally. The recessed entrance has a timber door with a leaded central light, fanlight, and sidelights, sheltered by a stone canopy supported on decorative metal brackets. A four-light pink granite bay window with square-pane leaded glass and granite mullions is positioned to the left of the entrance.

The north elevation comprises a two-storey and attic gabled section to the right, and a single-storey and attic range abutting to the left. The gabled section has a shallow ground-floor bay window with granite margins, and an eight-light square window at the first floor. The lower range has a small central gablet breaking the roof eaves.

The south elevation features a two-storey and attic gabled section to the left, and a two-storey range set back to the right. A veranda with rustic tree trunk columns fronts the right-hand range. Below the veranda are two timber bay windows with a granite base course; both have lattice-glazed top panes and plate glass below, flanking an entrance door. A central gablet breaking the roof eaves is present on the east-facing return elevation.

The windows are predominantly plate glass in sash and case frames of varying sizes. The house has shallow-pitched gabled roofs covered in clay roof tiles, with painted timber rafter ends visible below the overhanging eaves. Coped ashlar chimney stacks are on the ridge, and the rainwater goods are a mixture of cast iron and uPVC, some with iron plate brackets. The interior was not inspected in 2018. The lodge is situated within Knockie Wood, surrounded by formerly landscaped grounds, to the northwest of the village of Tarland in Aberdeenshire.