Information

Four Acres is situated half a mile outside the old village of Innerwick on a C-class road. This is a quiet and peaceful place to live with spectacular sea views from most windows. Dunbar is only 5 miles away with supermarkets, secondary school, swimming pool and rail links to London and Edinburgh. Edinburgh is about 35 miles, an easy commute along the A1. Family sized houses with land are rare in East Lothian and anyone thinking about running a smallholding should consider viewing. It is also an ideal property for anyone with equestrian interests as the paddocks are ideal for 2 or 3 horses or ponies. Innerwick has a lovely little primary school and an 18th century church.


The property is being marketed by Paris Steele http://www.parissteele.com/ and the particulars can be downloaded from their website.

Thorntonloch Beach

This is the beach on a wild wintry day.

There is a mile of sand and a coastal walk from here to Musselburgh (John Muir Way).

We walk the dog or fish for sea bass, mullet, mackerel and flat fish.

Sun Lounge

A good view here from the sun lounge area out towards the Isle of May. You can see how the glass roof lets the light pour in. This area also makes a great work area for art or crafts.

Master Suite

The whole of the upstairs is the master suite. This view leads your eye from the Jacuzzi end of the room (not in shot) some 37 feet to the doors out to the terrace. There are seating areas in the main room and under the glass-roofed sun lounge to the left. We have a small kitchen at the end of the room which makes the upstairs a self-contained apartment as it has its own entrance and can be separated from the rest of the house. We have made the house work for us by using this apartment as a holiday let.
There is great potential here to use the space however you liked. It could even be split into two rooms making the house 4-bedroomed.

Landing view

Looking eastwards out to sea with all the trees in the foreground - lovely. These large windows above the staircase let loads of light into the room and overlook the garden to the front of the house.

Upper Terrace

Double doors lead out from the master suite onto this 30m2 terrace. This is blissfully peaceful and takes advantage of the sea views. You can look west towards the Bass Rock and east towards St Abbs Head.

Lighthouse

Splendid view from the upper terrace looking out towards the Isle of May. Barns Ness Lighthouse is no longer in use but is a famous landmark and a great place to walk the dog. The farmer next door has just cut his hay in this shot and the gulls are looking for food.

Treetops

This is the view from the upper terrace across the tops of the trees and out to sea. You can just make out the 'A' frame hen run in the veg plot in the centre of shot. We use this for young birds until they get used to the big outdoors.

Pond and house

This is a real suntrap. Wonderful to sit here and listen to the water and the birds, watch the fish and sup a glass or two of chilled wine.

Pond

Garden pond in early summer. You can see the tunnel through the rose arch on the left; it leads to the veg plots. There is a Gunnera in the foreground.

Koi Carp

There are 7 large Koi here that are about 12 years old and some Golden Orfe. You can see their beautiful markings. These fish swim towards you when they think you have food.

Pond in summer

This is the garden pond at the end of May. There are Golden Orfe and Koi Carp in here and the sound of the waterfall is very soothing. Toads and frogs come to this pond and damsel flies and dragon flies. We have even had an otter visit (lost a fish - naughty thing) and the swallows like to swoop down for a drink.

House from drive

Another view of the house from the drive. The rhododendrons are screening the kitchen pond but you can just make it out through their foliage.

Wildlife garden

Not all of the garden is cultivated. We have left an area of wildness planted with a few cherry, rowan and beech. This is wonderful for the wildlife and screens the garden from the road.

Garden in winter

In the field we have stuck to native trees but the garden is much more exotic. There is a corkscrew willow in the centre here but you can also see some eucalyptus, cherry trees (taste wonderful if you can beat the blackbirds) and some firs. The borders contain both herbaceous and perrenial shrubs and plants. The shrub covered wall in the centre is actually the header pool for the pond - it helps create the waterfall.

Hens with attitude

Here are 3 girls displaying their personalities - cheeky things! You can just make out the grapevine in the polytunnel.

Hen Coop

This hen coop can house up to 30 hens and has an automatic door closer that shuts them in at dusk. Works brilliantly. The hen area is protected by 6ft high fencing to keep out Mr Fox.

Willows

We have planted some hybrid willows here as a windbreak along the northern boundary wall. This gives fantastic shelter to this area that could be used for growing veg or keeping livestock. We used this area as a nursery when a friend's sheep were lambing.

Hen area

Looking northwards across the hen area and polytunnel you have uninterrupted sea views. The boundary of the property is the line of willows against the old stone wall. You may have to click and enlarge this photo to make that out.

Polytunnel

This is the hen area and orchard. We have planted 20 old variety apple trees here that cropped really well last autumn and tasted delicious. I'll never buy a supermarket apple again. You can see the castle in this shot too and there is another area of pasture you can't quite see beyond the fence line to the left. There is plenty opportunity here to create other activities as a smallholding. Pigs? More chickens?

Castle

This was taken from the veg plot in the garden looking north east towards the ruins of Innerwick Castle. You can see some of the lovely trees in the glen just coming into bud and if you really look hard towards the horizon on the left you can see the power station. Not exactly in your face and it doesn't make any noise.

Looking North

In this photo you can see our field store caravan and a raised bed veg plot to the right of it. The gate into the garden is to the left of the caravan and you can see the house through the beech trees that surround the garden. All areas of the field have a water supply.

Mid field

Looking northwest across the newly planted trees towards the polytunnel and the house. You can see the stock fencing in the foreground and the sea in the distance. We have planted over 1000 mixed native trees but still leaving over 2 acre of pasture.

Pasture

This is the east end of the field where there is a good acre of pasture. New planting on two sides and the older trees in the north. Some deer frequently visit this area.

New Trees

Looking south from the hen's area into one of the new planted areas. These trees are now 5 years old and some of them are over 12ft high. This is February and the trees are all just started to bud.

Field to castle

Looking north from the field towards the ruins of Innerwick Castle. The glen below the castle is a wildlife reserve with ancient semi-natural woodland.

East Field

This is a view of some mature trees and some newly planted ones at the east end of the field.