Annabel Astor's bothy on Jura is a comfortable oasis in the untamed landscape
George Orwell, who wrote the novel Nineteen Eighty-four in a remote farmhouse on Jura, once described the island as 'an extremely un-getable place'. Arriving at The Glen, William and Annabel Astor's magical Scottish lair, after train, plane and car journeys and finally a high-speed inflatable boat ride in horizontal rain, I can safely - and thankfully - confirm that over 50 years later, Orwell's description remains true. Jura is still a wild, isolated, trackless place of great beauty, with moors, forests, cliffs, hidden caves, rocky inlets and pristine, white-sand beaches. Standing as sentinels over this, and dominating the seascapes, are the scree-covered Paps which rise to over 760 metres. It is said that there is a pair of otters for every other mile of the 115 mile-long coastline - though sighting one is another matter. 'We may be lucky to catch a glimpse as they cross the bay in pursuit of sea trout,' says Annabel. “Then it can be weeks before another sighting.
Jura has just one road, the Long Road, which winds its way down the eastern and southern coasts. Pollution is not an issue here - the main accident risk to the few cars on the island is red deer, which outnumber the 200 or so local residents by 25 to one.
There are six private estates on the 28-mile-long island, one of which has been in the Astor family for over a century. The Glen, as it is known by the family, sits in the middle of a gently curving bay, with he Paps rising behind. A nearby stream, the Batrick - the water supply - gurgles into the ocean. The dry-stone-walled enclosure in front of the house constitutes the garden; originally, it kept out foraging sheep. Beyond is beach and sea, with the island of Colonsay breaking the distant horizon. It may seem a touch whimsical to quote the Reverend Francis Stewart when he wrote, in 1793, 'that the appearance of Jura is very romantic and calculated to raise sublime emotions in the spectator's soul – but he does get it right.
Built in the 1850s, when Jura's population may have numbered as many as 1,300, The Glen was originally an occasional dwelling for an islander, with a nearby stable for ponies, then the island's only form of transport. As stalking became increasingly popular, The Glen was used as a bothy or shelter for stalkers, whọ kept their ponies in the stables. 'The house consisted of three small cottages,' says Annabel. 'The first job William and I undertook - about 20 years ago – was to knock it right through. Floors on different levels were made of concrete and there were a few pieces of furniture brought down from the main house - that was it.' Running water was a priority, so the Astors installed a tiny hand pump which brought water down from the Batrick. When that broke, as was its habit, 'we just had to take it in turns to bring the water down in buckets. We had a chemical loo in a hut tacked on to the stables,' laughs Annabel, whose relaxed approach belies a gift for pulling together projects - be it a derelict croft or the flourishing furniture company OKA she set up in 1999 with Sue Jones and Lucinda Waterhouse.
MAY WE SUGGEST: The intricate art of shellwork is having a renaissance
Annabel and William built an indoor bathroom and installed an oil-fired boiler that finally allowed them to have hot water and hot pipes for drying damp clothes. For the first 10 years, candles and hurricane lamps were the only forms of lighting. They then piped the house for gas lighting, which Annabel says was 'wonderfully atmospheric, the gas hissing gently in the background. But in the end it defeated us – spare parts became impossible to obtain - so we switched over to electricity a year ago.' They converted all the gas-lamp fittings to electricity and reinstalled them. The house has evolved over the years to what it is today - a charming, cosy retreat, where the fires always roar at night, sofas are deep and comfortable, delicious food abounds and the drinks room is always stocked, and where books, pictures, rugs and fabrics create a happy, civilized oasis in the untamed landscape.
'This is very much a DIY place', says Annabel. Because it is a 'fair- weather' retreat, only so much can be achieved in any one summer, and guests are roped in to help -- Lucinda has painted rooms while Sue discovered a talent as a shellwork designer. Initial experiments fixing locally found shells on a door were frustrating because there was not the variety of shells available to create interesting patterns. Sue discovered a dealer in Cornwall who shipped shells up by the sackload. 'Each of my designs is symmetrical,' says Sue, 'but the pattern often developed as I went along and, inevitably, became more ambitious.'
Given the nature of Jura's climate, The Glen does not just present itself out of the mist each year. 'It takes a good three weeks to get it up and running after a bleak winter,' says Annabel. “Before we leave, we hang from the ceilings anything vulnerable to damp or pest attack, but the mice take over. Sand is blown through the cracks and damp runs down all the walls.' There are roof repairs to be done and the doors and windows warp and break; oil has to be ordered, brought out in jerry cans and, since there is no dock, hauled up the beach, as do sacks of coal. Food shopping involves a weekly expedition to Islay.
'The effort is worth every minute of Jura time,' says Annabel. When the sun shines, as it did when I visited, and a gentle breeze keeps the midges at bay, you have to agree there is simply nowhere else to be.
Tim Beddow1/12Annabel Astor's house overlooking the sea on Jura
Tim Beddow2/12In the pine-matchboarded hall, OKA rattan boxes contain rugs, hats, scarves and gloves.
Tim Beddow3/12Fishing bags hang in the hall.
Tim Beddow4/12The drinks room serves as a smaller sitting room.
Tim Beddow5/12Sue Jones created the shell-encrusted chimneypiece and mirror frame.
Tim Beddow6/12In the dining room, director's chairs bought by Annabel at auction and re-covered in Viyella tartan surround the table. The sideboard came from the Astors' main house on the island.
Tim Beddow7/12In the kitchen, fruit is stored in labelled baskets, hung high on the wall to protect it from mice. The 'Camargue' chairs are by OKA.
Tim Beddow8/12In the sitting room, Landseer engravings hang on matchboarded walls. Blankets from the Islay Woolen Mill cover an armchair and sofa. Annabel made the scallop-shell cornice.
Tim Beddow9/12Sue Jones lined the staircase window embrasure, around which hang nineteenth-century sailor's Valentines, which are also made from shells.
Tim Beddow10/12In Annabel's bedroom is another shell chimneypiece by Sue Jones.
Tim Beddow11/12The adjoining bathroom provides a warm, dry space in which to air clothes.
Tim Beddow12/12In this spare bedroom, a fabric by Robert Kime–'Queen Anne Panel'–adds colour and interest.
