Three Glens

Three Glens is a five-bedroom guesthouse situated on a working farm near the village of Moniaive, South West Scotland. Its owners, Mary and Neil Gourlay, are the third generation of the Gourlay family farming in the Cairn Valley. Neil Gourlay’s sustainable approach to farming won him the Britain’s Green Energy Farmer of The Year Award in 2011, and this philosophy has been the driving force for the building of Three Glens.

The architect’s vision was one of an organic building that blended seamlessly into the landscape. The natural forms and materials of the southern slopes of the Cairn Valley inspired him. The copse of trees and outcrop of rocks were a natural frame for the building, with the existing external dry stonewalls connecting the house to the wider landscape and rooting it to the site.

The architect paid close attention to how energy was going to be used around the home and this led him to conceive a design that takes full advantage of the natural conditions to contribute towards a comfortable, low impact home. Renewable technologies such as solar energy, wind power and bore holes are used to guarantee a constant supply of heat, water and electricity, and to make Three Glens energy self-sufficient. The wind turbine generates enough electricity for 25 homes and the excess electricity is exported to the National Grid. Two boreholes provide ground source heat to the lower level and a third supplies water that is UV filtered for drinking and other household uses. A wood burning kachelofen masonry heater supplies ambient heat to the living room, snug room and study, while generous levels of insulation and triple glazing minimise the heating requirement.

The design incorporates as many local materials as possible, many of them found directly on the farm. These include oak for the exterior cladding, stone from neighbouring fields for the walls, turf for the roof, also taken straight from a neighbouring field, and the farm’s own treated sheep’s wool for insulation. The interiors have been finished following the same principles. Reclaimed artefacts, artwork by local artists, and recycled materials from the site and farther afield have all been carefully selected and displayed around the house. Every item and every detail tells of a previous life, a story that makes every corner in this house unique.