Outbuildings, Choille Bheag

Loch Lomond And Trossachs National Park Planning Authority

Choille Bheag, a roughly rectangular-plan Italianate villa of c.1850 located in a prominent position above the Shore Road, is among the best of the villas along the Kilmun/Strone shore. The house is a good and intact example of the type and retains many original features as well as the stable and coach block to the rear.

The 1½-storey house consists of a principal south-facing elevation with a projecting shallow-pitch gable to the E. The entrance, in a separate gabled porch, is in the re-entrant to the E. To the rear is a parallel block, gabled to the E. Decorative details include corbelled eaves, a pierced balcony above the canted bay to the front gable and a variety of window surrounds, as well as raised quoins and a band course. To the rear of the house is a 2-storey stable/service block.

The main (S) elevation of Choille Bheag consists of a gable to the E, with a single-storey canted bay, with a pierced balcony to the pedimented window above. To the left (W) is a single-storey block. To the E, the gabled entrance porch has steps to the S with a pierced stone parapet. Behind this main block is a parallel 2-storey block, with an E-facing gable and a further N-facing gable. These elevations have a heavy channelled base course and wide margins and eaves course. The shallow-pitched gables have heavy stone corbels. The windows have either heavy corbelled overwindows or moulded surrounds.

Interior: the house retains a number of original interior features, such as the stone stair, with cast iron balusters and some good plaster cornices.

Materials: squared whin rubble with sandstone ashlar dressings. Timber sash and case windows. Predominantly plate glass lower sash and 6-pane lying-pane upper. Slate roof, stone skews, stone stacks and clay cans.

Outbuildings, Boundary Walls: to the rear of the house and across a narrow lane is a 2-storey service block, with external access to the upper floors at the gables.

The house is surrounded by a rubble boundary wall, with the entrance through a cast iron gate with square-plan gatepiers. Originally, the garden to the house extended further towards the sea but the road has since been straightened, reducing its size. The gate has also been moved from a position further W.