A $631,000 Private Scottish Island Offers Peaceful Retreat In Loch Lomond Surroundings

If your lockdown has sparked a love for solitude, then this uninhabited Scottish island–on sale for offers over $631,000–could be for you. That is, if you don’t mind sharing it with a few wallabies.

Inchconnachan on Loch Lomond is being sold by the Colquhoun family who have owned it since the 14th century. The wallabies were brought to the 103-acre island in the 1940s by Fiona Bryde Colquhoun, later Lady Arran. She established a colony of the freely roaming marsupials, earning it the name ‘wallaby island’. It is believed that some of them are still thriving on the island.

The Highland island–which sits in Loch Lomond, one of the U.K.’s largest freshwater lakes set about 33 miles from Glasgow–hit the market today. It is accessible by boat from the village of Luss and is part of the Loch Lomond and The Trossachs National Park, which has impressive mountain scenery.

As part of the sale, buyers get an exclusive boat access point at Luss and have the opportunity to build their own home on the island–the property comes with planning consent replace a derelict 1920s timber bungalow for a 5-bed lodge house, boathouse and pier.

Cameron Ewer of Savills, the agency who is jointly selling the property with Knight Frank, says, the property “is an extraordinary opportunity to acquire a beautiful and completely private, yet accessible, retreat and create a wonderful new residence there.”

Commenting on its modest price tag, he says, “there hasn’t been another Loch Lomond island for sale with planning permission in recent times and it is expected to well outperform its sale price.”

He adds, “For those seeking peace and seclusion, yet wanting all that this part of Scotland has to offer in the way of nature and water-based sport and activities, this is surely the ultimate prize.” The area offers many outdoor pursuits including wakeboarding, sailing, mountain biking, kayaking, wildlife, angling, and hill walking, according to its sales details.

Inchconnachan is covered in ancient oak woodlands and features secluded bays that attract otters and deer as well as a variety of birds including the endangered game bird known as capercaillie, and an occasional pair of nesting ospreys, according to the sales details.

Set just off Loch Lomond’s southwest shore, the island is part of the Colquhoun-owned Luss Estate–Inchconnachan translates to Gaelic as Innis Chonachain meaning the Colquhoun island. It includes a timber house built in the 1920s reputedly for retired tea merchant Admiral Sullivan in the style of an Indian tea plantation bungalow.

The property later became the holiday home of Lady Arran who held the record for being the fastest woman on water. The Scottish aristocrat reached a top speed of 102mph in a powerboat on Lake Windemere in 1980, claiming the Seagrave Trophy, according to the sales details.