Wee House, Daisy Bank, Braemar

Wee House, Daisy Bank, Braemar

This late 19th-century cottage and adjoining timber 'wee house' represents the best surviving intact example of a distinctive building type that developed in Braemar during the village's growth as a tourist destination.

The main cottage is a single-storey building with attic, comprising three bays and harled throughout. The principal east elevation is symmetrical, featuring a central four-leaf panelled door with stained glass upper panels and a rectangular light above inscribed 'DAISY BANK'. The door is topped with a dentilled cornice. The attic is lit by a pair of piended and canted dormers. The west (rear) elevation has a cat slide dormer with a later lean-to addition to its left. Windows throughout are timber four-pane sash and case with roof lights to front and rear. The roof is slated with gable stacks.

The interior remains a remarkable survival of a barely altered cottage layout. The plan comprises two rooms over two, with a central stair aligned along the length of the building. An alcove in the kitchen, probably originally for a box bed, survives. Bell pushes remain throughout the cottage, with a bell box still in situ in the kitchen, indicating the service arrangements for when the cottage was let to visitors.

Adjoining the north gable is a timber 'wee house', added circa 1890. This single-storey structure is four bays wide and finished in flush weatherboarding. The principal east elevation has an off-centre door to the left with flanking timber sash and case windows and a further window to the right. The west elevation has three doors and a window, while the south elevation has a single door and small window. The roof is corrugated iron with a central brick stack.

The interior of the wee house retains all its original internal panelling and a range still in situ. A wash house to the south contains original sinks and a late 19th-century cast iron washing tub. This tub bears the inscription 'FALKIRK' with panels of animal heads, cast by John Hardy's at the Falkirk Ironworks.

Both buildings survive with little or no alteration, making Daisy Bank unique among Braemar's surviving examples. Other properties of this type have either been modernised or had important features removed, or have lost their adjoining wee houses entirely.

The paired cottage and wee house represent evidence of Braemar's development as a health resort and tourist destination from the mid-19th century onwards. The fashion for Deeside as a destination was enhanced after the Royal Family visited the area from the 1840s and the arrival of the railway in the 1850s. Residents built these timber 'wee houses' in their gardens as summer dwellings, allowing them to let their main cottages to visiting guests. The survival of the bell pushes and bell box at Daisy Bank demonstrates how service was integral to life when the cottage operated as holiday accommodation. Both structures exemplify traditional construction methods and the region's characteristic materials: granite, timber and slate. The dentilled cornice to the front door is a feature shared with several other properties of this period in Braemar.