CASE STUDY THE GAMBLE PAYS OFF


Buying a new home which was too small was a risk that the Leggett family were willing to take.


TEXT NIK HUNTER IMAGES ROBERT PERRY R 18


obert and Isla Leggett had been living in Edinburgh’s Leith for 15 years but after the arrival of their baby girl, Arabella, they decided it was time for a change and a move, but to where? “We didn’t have a location in mind,” Isla


recalls. “We thought about building our own house and even went to a couple of the home building and renovating shows,” Robert adds. “However, as we were self-employed, we knew that the banks wouldn’t lend to us.” Their next step was to offer on a house in East Lothian which they bought but the sale fell through within two weeks of the moving date.


“Luckily, we found this cottage, viewed it and bought it right away,” says Isla. Originally part of the Balbirnie Estate in Fife, the cottage was a former gate house and was a few minutes’ walk away from the town of Markinch. “We bought it because of the garden and the outdoor space,” Isla remembers. “It’s so close to the town, it’s on the main train line, walking distance to schools and shops but none of that is visible, the view out the windows and from the garden is incredibly rural.” As Isla grew up on a small holding, she was


aware of the ups and downs of rural living. “Once you have kids yourself you wonder what


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