The weekend before last, on a stravaig around the Mar Lodge Estate, we passed the Red House on the Geldie which is being renovated by the Mountain Bothies Association (MBA). While I am a long-standing member of the MBA, I don’t keep up with the work they are doing and had only heard about this project the weekend before while staying in the Tarff bothy.
The volunteers working on the Red House were very friendly and invited us to have a look around. The work they are doing is really impressive: the gable end has been almost rebuilt and the stone work has been beautifully finished; the interior has been dug out and a new wooden floor laid; and various original features are being preserved. A great example of building conservation.
I found out afterwards that the building is a scheduled monument and the plans had required approval from Historic Environment Scotland (HES):
“The monument is of particular importance because of the good state of preservation of structures, the excellent documentation which survives for much of the period of occupation, and because of its place within the well-preserved cultural landscape of the Mar Lodge Estate which is owned and run by the National Trust for Scotland (NTS).”
While I tend to agree with HES’ assessment of the importance of the building, I would beg to differ that the burned and overgrazed landscape hereabouts should be preserved.
Although the Red House is owned by the National Trust for Scotland, the planning application was made by the MBA and involved a lot of work even though it was not called in by the Cairngorms National Park Authority but approved by Aberdeenshire Council in February 2019 (see here for planning papers). Progress on the renovation was then significantly delayed because of Covid. We heard from the volunteers that the Covid restrictions last summer had meant that they had not been able to work on the main building so instead had focussed their intention on installing the composting toilet (on the site of another building). They now hope the renovation will be complete later this summer.
All this is a credit not just to the MBA and its amazing volunteers. I could not help wondering, however, how it is that the NTS has enabled the renovation of the Red House to be progressed, while just a few miles away it is continuing to allow the much better known and familiar Derry Lodge to rot?
Following their purchase of the Mar Lodge Estate in 1995, the National Trust for Scotland spent almost 20 years debating what should happen to the C-listed building. The area around is one of the most designated in Scotland and at one stage renovating the building might have been controversial with wild land campaigners and conservationists. But by the time NTS applied for planning permission in 2016 (see here for planning papers) there was almost universal acceptance of the proposal to turn the building into a wardened hostel for use by the public.
NTS does not, however, appear to have given any real consideration to how its plans might be progressed. At the time an NTS spokeswoman explained (see here) that
“although the plans were being lodged, the flood recovery at Mar Lodge Estate would be its priority.
She explained: “We are applying for planning permission, but we will not proceed any further with the project at the moment.
“The current priority at Mar Lodge is to address the devastating flood damage it suffered during Storm Frank earlier in the year”
While it is understandable NTS needed in 2016 to focus its efforts the damage caused by Storm Frank, why did it spend money commissioning reports for the planning application if it didn’t intend to commence work on the renovation in the foreseeable future? The planning consent lapsed three years and since then there seems to have been silence. Meantime the building, which Fairhurst stated in their report of 2016 needed urgent work, rots.
The ostensible reason for this is almost certainly lack of ready cash, a factor which may explain why NTS was happy for the MBA to take on the Red House. The folk Imet from the MBA, who know all about how to renovate buildings for minimum cost, reckoned it would cost £500,000k just to secure Derry Lodge and then the same again to do it up. The report from Fairhurst in 2016 suggested twice that amount. No doubt if asked again now, they would say £3m.
£3m is a very large sum of money from the perspective of a cash strapped organisation like the NTS but probably not from an outdoor recreation perspective, even in these difficult times. If you consider the thousands of people who have enjoyed walking and climbing in the Cairngorms, raising the money to renovate Derry Lodge should be possible, given the will and the right attitudes.
But if its to do this, I believe NTS would need to think beyond their normal management perspectives – where it the next grant coming from? – and reach out to the outdoor recreational community. That shouldn’t mean handing over responsibility to another party but rather getting people outside the NTS hierarchy (Derry Lodge was managed for a period in the 1960s by the Cairngorm Club) involved in progressing the renovation, both in terms of fundraising and the actual work. It could involve a joint appeal through the NTS and organisations representing outdoor recreation but, equally important, a joint committee of people with the practical skills to take the project forward.
I am not suggesting that NTS should steal the MBA’s volunteers – though I suspect some would be very happy to get involved! – but rather it learns from what that voluntary organisation has achieved at the Red House in very difficult circumstances. It is, of course, positive that the NTS gave the MBA the go-ahead to renovate the Red House but in terms of them fulfilling their obligations to building conservation, Derry Lodge is even more important.
As for Derry Lodge, I would be very concerned that, if it were in use, there would be frequent vehicles up and down the track leading to it, and that the area around it would cease to be wild.
indeed, Robert, a case of ‘build it and they will come’ detracting from the ‘get away from it all’ experience, let alone from the experience wildlife will get from increased human presence.
Why? track goes right past it.
Plenty of wild bits in Glasgow and it has heaps of traffic.
In reality what you are all concerned about is what other people get upto.
Robert Craig and Ronald Greer, while I understand your concerns about usage that raises another issue. If renovations are not carried out and the building put to good use then eventually the roof will collapse, the building will then have to be cordoned off and then left as a ruin or demolished as it has become an eyesore. The questions then need to be asked, is it better to put it to good use now or demolish before it falls down?
From being a neighbour of one NTS estate (with whom I have still to receive a formal reply to a solicitors letter a year later; but that is a digression) and observations of many others, plus talking to staff it’s clear that the NTS is as a whole dysfunctional.
For the Derry Lodge hostel proposal they were mindful of the traffic issue and were considering using ponies for supplies. Rumour has it they were considering returning the adjacent MRT hut to stables, but the team politely pointed out that they would not only be bringing in supplies to the Lodge but for the ponies as well, and would also have to take the manure out. So it would make more sense to base the ponies at Mar Lodge.
Having taken the bridge away the former keepers cottage (I.e the location of the original Bobs) across the river is stranded and falling into disrepair and without the bridge doing anything about it will be a logistical nightmare.
They currently want to widen the track up Glen Derry to allow quads and argocats, to improve stalking efficiency. Or rather to improve taking shot deer off the hill, as they are scared of a public backlash of leaving carcasses on the hill, despite the potential ecological benefits. Yes that’s right the route they reduced to a footpath with great back slapping, now may be reverted to a wider track.
They also are considering building a visitor centre and cafe at the Linn of Dee carpark to catch the passing trade that bypasses Mar Lodge.
So with the later two plans, plus the conservation work (which is going well) and running Mar Lodge itself, Derry Lodge is probably now very far down the list.