We recently welcomed journalist Eleanor Doughty to Inchyra as part of a new series in the Sunday Telegraph called Great Estates.
Eleanor is investigating how large houses across the country are finding ways to keep their heads above water. While there are obviously owners of historic houses who have no problem finding a way to pay the very large maintenance and running costs, the truth is that, for many many more, the houses are a millstone around their necks that they feel emotionally unable to let go of. When a house has been lived in for generations of your family, you really don't want it to be you that drops the ball.
The result of this is all the stories of families living with no heating, sofas and carpets falling to pieces and bigger and bigger holes in the roof. As visitors perhaps look with envy on a supposed lifestyle, the owners just see a pile of very large and unpayable bills. Of course, it's a privilege to live in these beautiful places but it's also a pretty full-on job and often at the expense of luxuries that other people might take for granted - like holidays.
At Inchyra we have been lucky enough to turn things around over the past few years with the launch of our beautiful wedding barn. But we know that in large part that is exactly what it is - luck. It just happened that our unused and dilapidated outbuilding turned out to be the perfect shape and size for weddings and parties. But many owners don't have that luck.
Anyway, we had a great day here with Eleanor and you can read the resulting article here: Great Estate: The Scottish manor house and family home with a rocking arts club attached
In this month's Country Homes & Interiors magazine, Caroline Inchyra talks about living and working in Perthshire.
The full Inchyra fabric collection can now be seen in its entirety at the fascinating Cupar showroom of At The Sign of The Pelican.
