A Frank Lloyd Wright-style Borders house is for sale at £625,000
Think of the pretty Borders town of Melrose, with its 12th-century abbey, and modernist architecture won't be the first thing that springs to mind. But hidden away among woodland down a private driveway just ten minutes' walk from central Market Square lies a mysterious mid-century gem that embodies the visions of not just one but three different architects.
Three-bedroom home Nimbus is believed to have been designed by the architect Hamish Bremner sometime in the 1960s. Its style is reminiscent of Frank Lloyd Wright's Usonian houses, with their grid-like patterns and flat roofs with cantilevered overhangs. In 1977, an extension and decked terraces were added by Ron Russell, a principal architect to the celebrated Peter Womersley, whose famous works around the Borders include Gala Fairydean
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
BBC News
an hour ago
- BBC News
Push to keep reviving Wolverhampton's architectural history
A city's historic buildings are undergoing a revival and one local photographer, Ian Hughes, said: "We should be shouting about it from the rooftops."Talking about Wolverhampton, he admitted he was once "one of the naysayers who felt it was a dump" - but has found a love for the city's architectural history and said: "There's a lot to celebrate in Wolverhampton."Emma Purshouse, editor of the Black Countryman magazine, also believes the city has some amazing said: "If it was Stratford or the posh parts of London, they'd have been preserved and made part of a tourist trail." Mr Hughes started going on walks around the city two years ago, taking photos of the buildings as he has more than 10,000 images and said the city was now "definitely a phoenix rising from the ashes".One recent discovery which stuck in his mind was a large brick building near the canal."Nobody seemed to know what it was," he said - but he eventually found it had once been a butter and cheese Hughes said it was a "lovely building, totally overgrown and desperately in need of repair" and he felt it had an interesting story to tell. Mr Hughes said he did not know why Wolverhampton "chose to knock things down" but it was nothing new or unique to the said the Victorians "just swept everything away" to create the modern city centre and their buildings had in turn been replaced after World War Two."In the 1950s, councils up and down the country did exactly the same," he Mr Hughes is not angry about the city's lost history and said: "People made what they think were the right decisions at the time."These buildings were never built to last forever and be part of history, they were built with a purpose and those purposes are long, long gone." Ms Purshouse said she believed it was "easier to knock things down than preserve them" but there were many examples of interesting architecture still in said her favourites included the Great Western pub, with its cobbled street "because it feels like you've just stepped back in time into a little Victorian pocket of Wolverhampton" and the Lychgate Tavern off Queen's some old buildings were "hidden" behind modern shop fronts, with others it had been "easier to knock things down than preserve them", she added. Ms Purshouse was appointed Wolverhampton's first poet laureate during the coronavirus pandemic and, like Mr Hughes, spent a lot of time walking around the said while some buildings had been lost, there were also good examples of historic buildings being preserved, such as the Albion former corn mill has been turned into flats but its appearance has been also hoped the city's former eye infirmary would be treated sensitively when the old NHS site was is planning consent to turn it into flats, a special needs school and an eating disorder city council said the Victorian building and former nurses accommodation would be restored as part of that work and it was encouraging the owners to move the project Purshouse said she has happy to see buildings change their use if they can "keep the architecture and keep the feel of the things". Mr Hughes said there were also encouraging signs for the future of Wolverhampton, with projects such as the planned redevelopment of the former Beatties site will be turned into a mixture of apartments and shops and the city council said it was in "regular contact" with the owners of this building too, "to offer support and encourage action to move things forward". The councillor responsible for development in Wolverhampton, Chris Burden, said the city was "full of beautiful architecture" and the council took the preservation and restoration of heritage buildings "extremely seriously".The authority pointed to a number of other buildings which have been brought back into include the Grade II listed Civic Hall and Wulfrun Hall, now known simply as The Halls, which were refurbished at a cost of £ former Royal Hospital, which closed in 1997, has also been brought back into use as flats for people over the age of projects still in the works include turning the former Chubb Locks factory into a four-screen cinema and the restoration of the central council said it was also working with the owners of the city's other empty buildings to bring them back into use and improve how they look from the outside. While it might be romantic to think Wolverhampton's forgotten buildings could all be brought back into use, Mr Hughes believes people should be realistic about the future of town shopping habits changing, he said: "Towns as we knew them are gone, they're never coming back."But he said if developers were prepared to put in the money and the effort, the centre of Wolverhampton "could become what it used to be". Follow BBC Wolverhampton & Black Country on BBC Sounds, Facebook, X and Instagram.
BBC News
21 hours ago
- BBC News
Solway coastline secures major restoration boost
The Solway coastline in south west Scotland has secured a major funding boost to help with its conservation, restoration and is the first project to secure support through the National Lottery Heritage Fund's (NLHF) £150m Landscape Connections Solway Coast and Marine Landscape Connections Project - Scamp for short - will receive £1.4m to shape plans which will help unlock a further £ will work with the local community to deliver an extensive programme of habitat restoration right along the Dumfries and Galloway coast. The project is the first of about 20 across the UK which will benefit from the funding aimed at boosting nature recovery, helping rural economies and attracting more chief executive Eilish McGuinness said it was the "perfect project" to get things started."The Solway Firth's rich natural heritage has supported communities along its length since the earliest settlement," she said."The heritage of millennia of human habitation are reflected in the landscape and history of the people, places and communities."This will be enhanced with National Lottery player support to deliver large-scale, long-term, meaningful change for the environment and its people, furthering our vision for heritage to be valued, cared for, and sustained for everyone, now and in the future." Dumfries and Galloway Council is leading the Scamp initiative alongside a long list of local Gail MacGregor said: "With a potential total investment of almost £8m from the heritage fund this commitment demonstrates the huge potential of our Solway Coast to become a leading light in coastal and marine nature restoration, playing its part in helping with the nature and climate crisis."By allowing our coastal and marine environment to thrive we will be bringing opportunities for learning, green jobs, wellbeing and nature-related economic development to our communities." Karen Morley, Scamp programme manager, said it welcomed the funding."It is rare for a nature restoration project to attract this level of investment over a prolonged period of time," she said."But it is also essential for this ambitious innovative programme of work to be delivered by ourselves and our partners and ensure we can make a real restorative impact on our Solway land and seascape." The Scamp scheme will be delivered over 10 years including a two-year development key habitats will be prioritised - seagrass meadows, native oyster reefs, saltmarsh, coastal woodland and sand dunes. It will also see 120 miles (195km) of new coastal trail created with 10 coastal "gateway" sites along the coast and trails will allow people to learn more about the Solway Firth and the surrounding area.
Telegraph
a day ago
- Telegraph
Reform has landed in Scotland
Yet again a Scottish by-election has kicked the political establishment in the shins. Yes, in Scotland, after 18 years in power, the SNP is currently the political establishment and its defeat at the hands of Labour with a 602 vote majority – and Reform UK close behind in third place by just 869 – votes demonstrates the disruptors are making an impact. Labour's unexpected and narrow victory makes it clear the SNP is likely to struggle to form a Government when the full Holyrood election is held next May. That election will be held under a proportional voting system which, were Reform UK to poll anything like the 26.1 per cent achieved in Hamilton by its candidate Ross Lambie, could give the party a healthy group of MSPs in the mid-twenties and possibly make them king-makers. For the Conservatives, the evening was bad but not quite as embarrassing as they privately feared. Polling only 1621 votes, Tory sighs of relief were audible from Gretna to John O'Groats once they realised their vote share was 6 per cent, saving a lost deposit had it fallen to below 5 per cent. Still, it remains impossible to say if the Conservatives have yet bottomed out. Tory candidates face being squeezed across Scotland from all ends by the other pro-UK parties so long as regaining trust with voters remains the Conservatives' biggest challenge. Despite the best efforts of Scottish Conservative leader Russell Findlay providing more focussed stewardship, the Conservatives still risk falling below their worst ever Holyrood vote in 2011 when Annabel Goldie's campaign achieved only 12.4 per cent. The SNP leadership will need to look hard at their strategy of building up Reform as a 'far right' bogeyman and talking-up the prospect of a two-horse race between the SNP and Reform. The First Minster, John Swinney, had suggested the only way to stop Reform was for Labour voters to get behind the SNP; he begged them from the pages of a Labour-supporting tabloid to come over to the nationalists. Instead of reducing Labour's support by this tactical ploy, he received a stinging political slap in the face as his pleas only served to give Reform credibility as a serious challenger while Labour activists flooded the constituency on the last day to get their vote out. What is also clear from the by-election is that making out Nigel Farage as a vote loser in Scotland does not hold water. The same used to be said about Margaret Thatcher and Boris Johnson, but the truth is there has always been a Scottish market for big personalities that parties of the Left have sought to demonise. Photos of the Clacton MP were all over the Reform UK's publicity materials, and he was regularly promoted via social media – and did the unthinkable of visiting the constituency during the campaign. Yes, he's a marmite figure, but he's been a marmite figure for much of his political life in most of England too, and now has the best ratings of all the party leaders. After the initial realisation during polling day that they simply did not have the shoe leather on the ground to push for second place, Reform UK's supporters quickly realised they had actually achieved an amazing result. Their candidate, Ross Lambie, had polled 7,088 – which next to Labour's 8,599 and the SNP's 7,957 resulted in a highly creditable three-way fight. Coming from only 7.8 per cent in the Hamilton and Clyde Valley Westminster constituency boundary at last year's general election to achieve 26.1 per cent this time round is a very strong showing. Reform UK has landed in Scotland.
