Hotel plans revived for Rosehall House
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A crumbling mansion in Sutherland, which has links to famed fashion designer Coco Chanel, has finally been sold and plans to turn it into a luxury hotel have been revived, it has been announced.
The derelict Rosehall House, located on the banks of the River Cassley, has been on the market for a number of years with a £2.5 million price tag.
According to Malik Afsar of Remax Central estate agents, it has now been sold for an undisclosed sum to an overseas family.
The 20-bed Georgian mansion, which was built in 1822 and then again in 1873 after fire gutted the original building, is on the Buildings at Risk Register for Scotland, has a fascinating history.
It was the romantic hideaway of Coco Chanel during her 10-year love affair with its then owner, Hugh Grosvenor, 2nd Duke of Westminster.
Coco decorated a room in the house in her own signature style and is alto thought to have designed one of the bathrooms which contained the first bidet to be installed in Scotland.
She had hand-blocked wallpaper shipped in from France and oversaw local workmen as they put together simple fireplaces.
A number of the rooms still bear her work, including fragments of wallpaper she designed
The mansion is the only property outside Continental Europe with an interior by Chanel.
Rosehall welcomed a host of famous faces during the 1920s, including Winston Churchill, who stayed there in 1928 while recovering from illness.
Empty for more than 60 years, the mansion was understood to have been sold by businessman Sayeed Chowdhury in 2010. Two years later it was reported that a group of Birmingham businessmen were backing a project to restore it.
Then, in 2014 Bell Ingram Design announced planning consent had been granted for the restoration of the mantion and its conversion into an up-market hotel. and the construction of five luxury holiday apartments and a spa.
It was planned to integrate many of the design features created by Chanel into the conversion.
Bell Ingram Design said at the time it was working on behalf of clients Ghulam Choudry and Aamer Waheed.
A planning permission renewal application was lodged in 2017 on behalf of Ghulam Choudry.
Now Mr Afsar of Reemax said that the new purchaser has bought the property because of the planning consent for the hotel conversion.
