5 Bank Street, Cromarty, Highland, IV11

Cromarty is an 18th Century former fishing village, on the Black Ise, a peninsula which lies just to the north of Inverness between the Moray and Cromarty Firths. A charming mix of meandering lanes, fishermen’s cottage and substantial merchants’ houses with a good range of independent shops, a small supermarket with post office, and primary school, as well as a community cinema, cafes, restaurants and the harbour with its ferry to the north side of the firth. Secondary schooling is available at the highly regarded Fortrose Academy and Inverness, about 40 minutes’ drive away, has all the facilities of a modern city including its airport with regular flights to the south and Europe. The Black Isle has fertile rolling countryside with a beautiful coastline of raised beaches and prominent headlands. The area has a number of way-marked cycle trails and walks, while the coastal villages offer sheltered harbours, and nearby Fortrose has a links golf course.

No 5 Bank Street is a category B-listed dwelling, which dates circa early 19th century, located in the conservation village of Cromarty. The property has been owned by glass artist Emma Nightingale since 2014 who has made many improvements throughout her ownership including full refurbishment, the replacing of the ground floor shower room, the upgrading of the kitchen, the installation of new log burners, has improved the insulation and more recently has re-harled two elevations and has had the exterior painted. Most of the windows have also been replaced within her ownership, with planning permission and listed building consent granted for the replacement of all windows. The air source heat pump has a Renewable Heat Incentive, and the PV solar panels mounted on The Studio feed the house and have a feed-in-tariff. The Studio, built in 2016/17, was designed by local Cromarty architect Lynne Sproull to be flexible in the way it could be used, including as a home office or as ancillary accommodation to the main house and has been wired for kitchen appliances and has a WC with plumbing for a shower. The Studio is a lovely, light filled space with bi-fold doors opening onto the patio. Lynne Sproull has also designed a two-storey extension to 5 Bank Street and these plans can be found on the planning pages of the Highland Council website using reference 15/02168/LBC. Emma Nightingale has added her own touch to 5 Bank Street with the two glass panels in the front door, a similar glass panel above the sitting room door, all of the be-spoke glass panels in the ground floor shower, and a glass panel behind the hob in the kitchen all being designed and handmade by her.

EPC Rating = D