Clad in wood and set amid green meadows, wildflowers and ancient windswept trees, The Lodge is the realisation of a dream for a couple who wanted to create a contemporary yet cosy space within the landscape they love
HOME PROFILE
WHO LIVES HERE Susie Whyte and John Burke THE PROPERTY A four-bedroom wooden-clad lodge within a five-acre estate in Perthshire
OUTDOOR LIVING
The simple covered deck allows for a lot of alfresco dining in summer. ‘With so many flowers in the garden, we always pick a few for the table setting,’ says Susie. Dining table and chairs, Wildspirit
Perched above the village of Aberfeldy in the Tay valley, and surrounded by the majestic Scottish Highlands, The Lodge is perfectly at ease within the verdant landscape. It belongs to Susie Whyte and John Burke, an Irish couple in love with Scotland, and is part of the Dun Aluinn estate, which they bought in 2016. Meaning beautiful hill fort in Gaelic, it consisted of a Victorian country manor house and a 1950s caretaker’s cottage on five acres of mature ground.
The couple had come to know this area thanks to John’s son Ruairi. ‘He lived in Crieff, about 40 minutes from Aberfeldy,’ says Susie. ‘We used to visit Scotland every second weekend to see him and enjoyed going to Aberfeldy for hikes and visiting The Watermill for a bowl of soup in the café and a browse in the famous bookshop.’
Once they had acquired the property and undertaken extensive renovations to the main house, rebuilding the cottage didn’t seem like a priority, but after a burglary at the beginning of lockdown in 2020, plans were accelerated and The Lodge was finished by July 2021. ‘It was a trying time,’ remembers Susie, ‘because we were between lockdowns, there was a scarcity of materials and tradespeople, and travel to Scotland was limited.’
Susie and John were able to draw on a range of complementary skills to create this modern and minimalistic building. Although John now works as a director in pharmaceutical services, he has been renovating old and listed buildings for many years, while Susie had been working in the USA as an architect and designer. ‘John’s extensive experience running a building company helped get things across the line,’ admits Susie.
‘Our focus for the design was very clear from the start,’ she continues. ‘It was all about the view and how the building relates to it.’ West facing, The Lodge offers spectacular vistas of the sun setting between the mountains, mist and fog creeping through the valley, and the snow-capped peaks gleaming pink and blue in winter. It’s not surprising, then, that Susie and John felt it was important to include a generous outside deck and covered porch. ‘My aim was for a contemporary style wi
