Ford House

Ford House is a two-storey laird's house with an attic, dating from 1680. It follows an L-plan layout centred around an octagonal turnpike staircase positioned in the re-entrant angle. The walls are constructed of rubble, harled and painted in a rusty orange colour with grey flush window surrounds. The house was built as a country residence for the Frasers of Lovat, with the first owner being an Edinburgh lawyer. Its design draws inspiration from French architecture of the period.

The principal elevation faces north. The octagonal turnpike staircase dominates the re-entrant angle, crowned with an octagonal ogee slated roof and gilt weathercock. An entrance door to the ground floor sits to the right, with a small window serving the mid-floor of the upper two storeys. A two-storey single bay projects to the left flank, while the right flank has a similar bay topped by a catslide dormer. A crowstepped gable rises above, finished with a harled stack, stone neck cope, and three plain terracotta cans. A two-storey single bay terminates the gable end to the right, where a date stone reading 1680 is set into the north gable of the wing.

The east elevation displays a symmetrical arrangement of two bays to the ground floor and a single window to the first floor right, all beneath a crowstepped gable-end. The gablehead stack is harled with a stone neck cope and three plain terracotta cans.

The south (rear) elevation shows symmetrical three-bay fenestration to the ground floor, with outer bays extending to the first floor. A dovecote occupies the centre. Two modern Velux roof lights and a small rooflight have been introduced off-centre to the right.

The west elevation has slightly irregular fenestration arranged in three bays at ground floor (with a door to the right) and three bays to the first floor. A gable-end rises with an off-centre window, crowstepped form, harled gablehead stack, stone neck cope, and three plain terracotta cans.

Windows throughout the main floors are four-pane, twelve-pane, and sixteen-pane white timber sash and case windows. The roof is piended and covered with graded Ballachulish slate, with a catslide to the dormer. Replacement white cast-iron rainwater goods have been installed.

The interior preserves original panelling and shutters in the drawing room and bedroom above. Original two-panel seventeenth-century timber doors with brass rim locks remain, along with a black and white tiled fire surround and iron stair rail.

A walled garden of random rubble construction with stone copes encloses the house. A former stable courtyard and entrance courtyard are included within the garden precinct, with an entrance gate to the north boundary and a south gate leading to woods.

The house was built for the Frasers of Lovat following their acquisition of lands in the area. Ownership was later forfeited by the family due to their Jacobite connections. Prince Charles Edward Stuart is said to have stayed here during the 1745 rebellion while travelling south. The property and lands were subsequently merged into surrounding estates and fell into chronic neglect during the twentieth century. In circa 1960, Frank and Mary Tindall purchased and carefully restored the house, which had retained many original features despite its abandonment. The exterior colour scheme was restored to its original rusty orange tone, popular for houses of this type.

The roof of the stair tower formerly served as a large-scale dovecote with nesting boxes for around one hundred pairs of birds, which have since moved outside. The seventeenth-century panelling in the drawing room is claimed to have influenced Sir William Bruce's later work at Holyrood Palace. The walled garden once contained bee-boles and numerous fruit trees, but fell into severe overgrowth before restoration; only an apple tree and yew tree survived. During their restoration work, the Tindalls redesigned the flower garden into terraces and lawns, and created a new walled fruit and vegetable garden to the side of the house.