Latest news with #SHOTY
The Courier
2 days ago
- Entertainment
- The Courier
Broughty Ferry's Tree House misses out on Scotland's Home of the Year title
The Tree House in Broughty Ferry missed out on being crowned Scotland's Home of the Year. The finale of the popular BBC property show aired on Monday night. Hilltop House near Pitmedden in Aberdeenshire was crowned Scotland's Home of the Year. The Tree House was one of six episode-winning properties to make it to the finale of the show. Filmed at Glasgow's House For An Art Lover, the final episode brought together the six finalists for the first time, giving them the chance to see each other's homes. Hilltop House is a contemporary home built on the footprint of a farm steading. Home to Jessica Zanoni and husband Chris Labrooy, their teenage son Chase (18) and dogs Enzo and Dino, Hilltop House fuses together mid-century and Californian cool styles. Designed by the couple – who run their own art business – it's filled with colourful statement pieces from bright yellow sofas to a pastel pink bathroom. The SHOTY judges – interior designers Anna Campbell-Jones and Banjo Beale, and architect Danny Campbell – crowned Hilltop House the winner of Scotland's Home of the Year 2025 from a shortlist of six finalists from across Scotland. Anna Campbell-Jones said of Hilltop House: 'This home managed to feel perfect in every way whilst still feeling like a place where real people live. I particularly loved the way their art was reflected in their choices of colour and furniture, managing to create the perfect balance between playfulness and sophistication.' Fellow judge Danny Campbell was equally blown away: ''This was a home that manages to be both deeply personal and architecturally ambitious,' he said. 'There's a clarity of vision that's rare: every corner feels considered, every material honest, every space deliberate and thought through. It felt like the building was completely in tune with the people who lived there, which is especially impressive for a conversion.' The owners were delighted the judges picked Hilltop House as the winner. Jessica said: 'Every home is distinctive and unique because of the people that live there. So, our home is different because we are different. 'With me being from California and Chris being an artist, I think our tastes are just naturally a little bit unique. There isn't really anything in our house that we found at shops near us. Everything was specially sourced.' Chris added: 'I feel the home's location and east-facing gable give it a special character. I love the sunrises here – so much so that I'm up before 6.00am every morning just to take them in. I work from home so I really appreciate the quality of light throughout the day. It's a very easy going home to live in.' The six homes that reached the final of Scotland's Home of the Year included the Tree House in Broughty Ferry, which is owned by Paul Durrant and his wife Jackie McKenzie. Paul said he and Jackie were delighted to make the final: 'We had such a good day in Glasgow. We loved meeting the other finalists and hearing the stories of their homes. 'We weren't at all disappointed not to win. It really was a bonus to reach the final and to appear alongside so many amazing homes.' The 7th series of Scotland's Home of the Year featured 18 properties from all over Scotland – including four in Tayside, Fife, and Stirlingshire. Reflecting on the season, Danny Campbell said: 'This year's line-up was outrageously good. From bold conversions to quirky self-builds, every home had its own personality and inspirational touches. 'It felt like homeowners across Scotland have taken things up a level — not just in terms of design, but in how fearlessly they made their homes truly their own. It was a joy (and a nightmare!) to judge.' An 8th series of Scotland's Home of the Year has been commissioned and will begin filming across the country later this month. Season 7 of Scotland's Home of the Year is available on iPlayer
The Courier
2 days ago
- Entertainment
- The Courier
We look back at the best Tayside and Fife properties from Scotland's Home of the Year
The latest series of Scotland's Home of the Year has finished for another year. Despite making the final, Broughty Ferry's Tree House missed out to Hilltop House in Aberdeenshire. The BBC has commissioned an 8th season of the property show and will begin filming in June 2025. We've taken a look back through SHOTY's history to find the best Tayside and Fife homes to have featured in the show. The first season of SHOTY saw two Tayside and Fife homes reach the final. Little Blair House in Dalgety Bay won the East of Scotland episode. Its owners transformed it from a simple 1970s bungalow into a stunning and vivid family home. Textile designer Rachel Henderson bought the much-loved seaside home from her grandmother. On a miniscule budget she managed to transform it into a rainbow-hued, sun-drenched and happy place to live. SHOTY's first season also featured the Humpty House at Loch of Lintrathen, north of Kirriemuir. Designed by its owners, Ben Scrimgeour and his wife Rosemary, the home also houses their architectural practice. Rosemary said at the time: 'It is a contemporary Scottish building which is half family home and half office. 'Humpty House is a 21st century interpretation of a traditional rural agricultural structure. 'The interior is open with long wide oak floor boards, exposed agricultural style steel, enormous shutters and pendant lights. 'We designed many of the building components from our steel roof structure to our staircase, furniture and even the kitchen drawer pulls.' The sophomore season of SHOTY saw two Tayside homes make the final. A home near Brechin and a cottage in Strathtay came out on top in the Grampian and Perthshire episodes of the show. The Glebe is a former manse in the hamlet of Farnell, around five miles from Brechin. Its owners Jane and Ruaraidh Adams shared it with their three children and their dog. Interior designer Jane remodelled the house, knocking down a wall to create an open plan kitchen/living area. Another home to feature in the second season is Mouse Cottage in Highland Perthshire. The house sits on the edge of Strathtay Golf Course. The two bedroom cottage is owned by artist Penny Kennedy, who lived there for three years before commencing an 18-month overhaul of the house. Beside the house is Penny's studio, which faces south and gets lots of natural light. She also bought a patch of land from the golf course to expand her garden. Penny used a female builder from Aberfeldy, Jo Penfold, to spearhead the renovation works. She also had mains water installed after getting fed up of carrying buckets up the garden to clear silted-up water tanks. A stunning new build in St Andrews featured on Scotland's Home of the Year in 2021. The Garden House is a beautiful modernist home with a feature pond and decking. The house is owned by Helen and Ben Gray, who live there with their son Zach and three-year old spaniel Soda. The Hepburn Gardens site originally belonged to a house on the opposite side of the street. One of the challenges of building the Garden House was designing a home that didn't overlook neighbouring properties. The house looks over its own Japanese style garden complete with pond and decking. Iron Mill Bay also featured in the third season. It's a unique home overlooking the River Forth. It was built by Lisa Malube and her husband Martin for the couple and their three children. They used East Neuk based Fife Architects to come up with a unique design that put a circular stone tower as its focal point. The five-bedroom, two-storey home has a T-shaped floor plan with a large open plan living/kitchen/dining area that has a double height ceiling and gallery above. The reception room and most of the bedrooms are located to take advantage of the sweeping views across the river. Eco features were a priority and the house has an air source heat pump, solar panels and a rainwater harvesting system. A Mid Century Funhouse in Dunblane also cropped up in season three. Its lively interior is a tribute to the 1960s, inspired in part by the hit TV show Mad Men. It's full of yellows and greens, along with vintage fixtures and furnishings. The house was an eight-year labour of love for owners Nick and Fiona Grant, who live there with their son Eddie. An abandoned concrete water tank in Fife was converted into a stunning home that reached the 2022 SHOTY final. The Old Waterworks is a remarkable property near Crail that's been made from an abandoned concrete water storage tank. It was built by Sam and Ewan Robertson, who bought the Old Waterworks when they were just 18 years old. The abandoned building sat in a quiet corner of the farm owned by Ewan's family. The Old Waterworks is an extraordinary three-bedroom home. The vaulted concrete structure has a living roof covered in grass. Inside, the main living area is open plan and the beautiful barrel concrete ceiling forms a remarkable feature. There is a double-height living area and a beautiful sunroom that is accessed from the decking outside. The fourth season of the show also featured Easter Cottage in Charlestown, on the Forth Coast. Dorothy and Ricky Steedman bought the house in 2020 and set about transforming it. One of the main changes was converting an upstairs bedroom into a yoga studio. A few miles along the Fife coastline in Dalgety Bay is the Scottish Vybe, another home to feature in SHOTY's fourth season. It was given a dramatic overhaul by Angela and Paul Young. Built in the late 1950s the Scottish Vybe was originally owned by a Norwegian sea captain. He took the unusual-for-the-time step of making the property an upside down house, with the living room upstairs and the bedrooms on the ground floor. Also in season four was Our Adapted Home, a semi-detached house in Dundee that was cleverly modified for the needs of a disabled child. It was bought by Katie and Daniel Radke, who extensively transformed it to accommodate their daughter Jessica. It has runners and hoists in the ceiling, an accessible wetroom, a profiling bed, and other equipment designed to make life easier. At the same time it is a bright and colourful modern family home. The season-opener in 2023 featured two Fife properties. Alexandra Apartment is a double-upper flat in Kirkcaldy that's home to Gary Gourlay and his flatmate Sammy. The flat has a lovely semi open-plan layout, with the living room flowing into the kitchen and windows to both front and rear. Upstairs, the master bedroom has a bay window and rooftop views to the sea. In nearby Markinch, Mount Frost is a detached 1990s house. Emma and Scott Gillespie extensively overhauled the property. The house is spread over four levels, with the ground floor featuring a shower room and an office. On the first floor is a fantastic open plan kitchen, dining area and snug. Up another level is the formal living room, while the bedrooms are on the top floor. Meanwhile, the Old Manse in Auchterarder was one of the six properties to make the final in 2023. The handsome house was the winner of the fifth season's third episode, which focused on the Central Belt. Kelly and Michel Hillard upgraded the building. They knocked through a wall to create a wonderful open plan kitchen/diner that takes full advantage of views over the enormous walled garden. Judge Banjo Beale said of the Old Manse: 'If I could change one thing it would be replacing the owners with myself.' A striking new build house near St Cyrus in Aberdeenshire also reached the final six. Snowdrop House is a stunning contemporary home clad in stone and timber built by property developer Ross and his partner Emily. Originally Ross planned to build three homes on the plot and sell them for a profit. However he and Emily fell in love with the site and decided to build their own dream home instead. A fantastic mill conversion near Dunblane featured in the sixth season of SHOTY. The Old Mill lies on the banks of the Allan Water. Fields and woodland surround the building. Built 200 years ago, its occupants abandoned it for more than 25 years. But Lee and Dawn Collins bought the derelict building. 'It was in quite a state when we got it and had been derelict for at least 25 years,' Lee said. 'But it was too good an opportunity to pass up. You had this great mill building on a site with a river running through it.' He split the Old Mill into a three-bedroom main house with a home office, and a two-bedroom townhouse annex. The 2024 season of SHOTY also featured the Pink House, in the village of Crossford, near Dunfermline. Built in the 1940s, the Pink House has mock-Tudor styling, exposed brickwork, and bay windows. Its owners Heather and Brian Craig transformed it with a palette of bold colours – most notably pink. So far no house in Tayside or Fife has won Scotland's home of the year…or has it? It's true that the main SHOTY show has yet to see a winner from this area. However, each December the show returns for a one-off Christmas special episode. The judges crowned a Perthshire cottage Scotland's Christmas Home of the Year in 2022. You can find Easter Shian in beautiful Glen Quaich. That's midway between Crieff, Dunkeld and Aberfeldy. Debbie Halls-Evans and her husband Dave bought the house in August 2020. The farmhouse dates from 1705. Each year they put up four huge Christmas trees and light a roaring fire to enjoy total Christmas seclusion in their remote glen.
Scotsman
3 days ago
- Entertainment
- Scotsman
Inside the arty and cool property that's won Scotland's Home of the Year
There were so many beautiful properties in the running, it was a tricky one to call, but Scotland's Home of the Year 2025 has been unveiled. The winner of the BBC Scotland seven-part series is Hilltop House - an airy and contemporary converted farm steading that combines a unique blend of arty mid-century style and insouciant Californian cool. This property, near the Aberdeenshire village of Pitmedden, is home to Jessica Zanoni and husband Chris Labrooy, who own an art business, as well as their teenage son, Chase, and dogs Enzo and Dino. The couple's interior design look is a joint effort that was inspired by nature and their sustainable ethics. They have taken home their SHOTY trophy to display in their very stylish open-plan living room and kitchen, which features artfully mis-matched light fittings and chairs. Hilltop House's other winning features included a slouchy mustard yellow sofa, a collection of graphic prints, and a peachy pink bathroom with a line drawing of a sausage dog on the wall. SHOTY judge and interior designer Anna Campbell-Jones said: 'This home managed to feel perfect in every way whilst still feeling like a place where real people live. I particularly loved the way their art was reflected in their choices of colour and furniture managing to create the perfect balance between playfulness and sophistication'. Interior Designer Banjo Beale added: 'It's an artful sanctuary - every corner tells a story, and it's quiet and charismatic all at once'. While the third judge, architect Danny Campbell said: 'This was a home that manages to be both deeply personal and architecturally ambitious. There's a clarity of vision that's rare: every corner feels considered, every material honest, every space deliberate and thought through. It felt like the building was completely in tune with the people who lived there, which is especially impressive for a conversion'. The property qualified as a finalist when it won episode two, North East and Northern Isles, which was screened in April. For the grand final at Glasgow's House For an Art Lover, it competed against five other shortlisted homes - Sandstone Bungalow in Giffnock; Wee City Nook in Edinburgh; The Tree House in Broughty Ferry; An Cala Cottage on the Isle of Skye, and Craigmount, near Dalbeattie. Ms Zanoni said: 'It has been such a lovely experience all around, and to win it has been fantastic. After watching the shows and getting to see our competition in detail, it really must have been a hard decision to make.' Mr Labrooy added: 'It's great to win. The house is a reflection of our tastes and personalities and we are proud of what we have created.' A new eighth series of the popular property show, which is made by IWC Media, will begin filming in locations around Scotland from later this month and applications on the BBC website are currently open to those who want to enter their home in the competition.
Daily Record
3 days ago
- Entertainment
- Daily Record
Scotland's Home of the Year 2025 winner crowned as Aberdeenshire Hilltop House scoops glory
BBC Scotland's Home of the Year 2025 has been crowned after a tough grand finale. A stunning Aberdeenshire house has been crowned Scotland's Home of the Year 2025. The Hilltop House, near Pitmedden, was named the winner in the much-anticipated finale of the popular BBC Scotland series, which was filmed at Glasgow's House For An Art Lover. Hilltop House belongs to Jessica Zanoni and husband Chris Labrooy, who live at the luxury pad with their teenage son Chase, 18, and dogs Enzo and Dino. The winning home fuses together mid-century and Californian cool style, creating a dream home for all the family, which oozes character. Designed by the couple themselves, the home is filled with colourful statement pieces from bright yellow sofas to a pastel pink bathroom. The pair - who run their own art business - are inspired by nature and led by sustainable design principles, purchasing items which will last for decades. The judges, Anna Campbell-Jones, Banjo Beale and Danny Campbell, crowned Hilltop House the winner from a shortlist of six finalists found across Scotland. Jessica and Chris were over the moon to be announced as the winner. Jessica said: 'It has been such a lovely experience all around, and to win it has been fantastic. After watching the shows and getting to see our competition in detail, it really must have been a hard decision to make!' Chris added: 'It's great to win. The house is a reflection of our tastes and personalities and we are proud of what we have created.' Anna Campbell Jones said that Hilltop House is a very worthy winner of the prestigious title, she beamed: 'This home managed to feel perfect in every way whilst still feeling like a place where real people live. I particularly loved the way their art was reflected in their choices of colour and furniture managing to create the perfect balance between playfulness and sophistication." Isle of Mull based interior designer Banjo Beale agreed, saying: 'It's an artful sanctuary - every corner tells a story, and it's quiet and charismatic all at once.' The six finalists came face-to-face at the season finale in Glasgow, meeting the judges for the first time as well as getting a chance to cast their eyes over each other's homes. For Jessica, meeting the other finalists was a real highlight of the day: 'The finale was a whirlwind of a day! We met all of the finalists and had such a great day talking to them. We have a WhatsApp group now that we keep in touch through. "It's easy to get on with people that are like minded and have put their heart and souls into the design of their homes. So, everything from building and designing and filming SHOTY were all shared experiences for us! It was so interesting to see all their ideas.' The 2025 series of Scotland's Home of the Year visited 18 exceptional properties across the length and breadth of Scotland. The eighth series of Scotland's Home of the Year will begin filming locations around Scotland from June. For more information on how to enter, please click here for full terms and conditions. The full seventh series of Scotland's Home Of The Year is available to view on BBC iPlayer. Join the Daily Record WhatsApp community! Get the latest news sent straight to your messages by joining our WhatsApp community today. You'll receive daily updates on breaking news as well as the top headlines across Scotland. No one will be able to see who is signed up and no one can send messages except the Daily Record team. All you have to do is click here if you're on mobile, select 'Join Community' and you're in! If you're on a desktop, simply scan the QR code above with your phone and click 'Join Community'. We also treat our community members to special offers, promotions, and adverts from us and our partners. If you don't like our community, you can check out any time you like. To leave our community click on the name at the top of your screen and choose 'exit group'.
The Herald Scotland
3 days ago
- Entertainment
- The Herald Scotland
Banjo's Skye cottage was ripped from his arms, Wee City Nook was nuked
Well, okay, we don't. But it's nice to dream for a spell. Glasgow's Home for an Art Lover, now the established location, location, location for the final, inspired the judges to up their outfit game. Anna Campbell-Jones and Banjo Beale went full home decor with a dress and a suit that could have been cut from the curtains. Danny Campbell, an architect and therefore required by law to wear black at all times, opted for a kilt with pockets (eh?), T-shirt, socks and his usual Crocs. After several slo-mo walks in the grounds, it was off to 'the Deliberation Room' where chief judge Anna read the riot act. 'We've had our fun choosing these six beautiful finalists,' she said, 'but now it's time to get serious.' They were as good as Anna's word. A person's fate has been decided with less deliberation than went on within those four walls. The judges argued, they pleaded, they begged to differ. It was done very politely, and as a result took longer than was necessary. A punch-up would have been much quicker. Meanwhile, in another room, the finalists were having a splendid time quizzing each other. 'How do you clean that?' asked one, pointing to a photo of a huge skylight. 'With great difficulty,' came the answer. Everyone felt the speaker's pain. Back in the deliberation room, homes were being squeegeed out of the competition, left, right and centre. Banjo had his beloved An Cala cottage on Skye torn from his arms. The Wee City Nook was nuked. Brutal. Finally, it came down to two properties: Craigmount near Dalbeattie and Hilltop House in Aberdeenshire. Both had scored top marks in their heats. How could the judges choose between them? Well, they managed it. Hilltop House's triumph perfectly illustrated a SHOTY rule: the competition is not over till the bespectacled blonde sings the winner's praises. Homes at the start of the competition - Hilltop House featured in episode two - tend to roar back into the running come the final. The homeowners were delighted. 'Surreal,' said Jessica, who lives in the contemporary house with Chris, their son Chase, and two dogs, Enzo and Dino. Jessica is from California and therefore no stranger to the more bizarre side of life. They should show SHOTY in California. I bet it would become cult viewing. And just like that, the seventh series was over. Filming on the eighth starts later this month. Soon there will be another set of hopefuls karate-chopping the cushions and buffing the parquet in preparation for the arrival of Banjo, Anna and Danny. Britain may be broke, as Panorama said, but as long as SHOTY exists, Scotland will be okay. Remember: we are all in the gutter, but some of us are looking through the meticulously cleaned skylight at the stars.
