Fornethy House

Fornethy House frontage

It is rare nowadays that I get the chance to explore old, interesting and abandoned buildings, but when friend of Balintore Duncan invited me to view just such a building only 7 miles away from the castle, how could I refuse? As incredible as it may seem, I was totally unaware of the existence of Fornethy House, yet it is an intriguing architectural conundrum built as a summer residence for the Coats' family in 1915. Between the 1950's and 1993, it was used as a residential girls' school. You can see how close Fornethy is to Balintore from the map below:

At the entrance to Fornethy, where the drive turns off the road, there is a wonderful square-on view of Balintore Castle on the horizon. Anyhow, the most astonishing thing about Fortnethy is that it is built in 16th century Scottish style over-laid with a veneer of 1915 Arts and Crafts. Academically it is a very clever building and will appeal to architecture nuts like myself. Aesthetically, it is rather blocky and far from conventionally beautiful, but the balance and refinement of the detailing is superb.

It is too severe for a country house, and one wonders how comfortable the Coats felt staying here. Often such buildings can be relieved by rich interiors or landscaped settings, but Fornethy is currently surrounded by woods with no outlook and googling for images suggests the interior was rather plain. 

Although I like Fornethy, I would hesitate to say it is a success as a building though I refuse to make a final judgement until the ground surrounding it is cleared, and one is able to view it in a landscape. Much of the surrounding forest is for timber production, and presumably it would originally have sat more comfortably in its surroundings.

On returning to my car, I saw for the first time in my life what I thought where Chanterelles growing on the side of the Fornethy drive. I have been looking for these for decades! Thanks to the Seek app for confirming the identification, and thanks to Duncan for saying that my Chanterelle dish that evening was delish! It is a subtle flavour in my humble opinion but a good one, and the golden orange colour, enhanced by frying, makes for a beautiful presentation.

To donate to the Balintore restoration project click here.

abandoned greenhouse with vine

active bee hives

abandoned greenhouse

abandoned cars

carriage door on side of Fornethy

mural of Disney's animated "Robin Hood" (1973)

door on rear

rear of Fornethy

elevated rear entrance (stair now missing)

feature on left is later (lift?)

feature on right is later (lift?)

front entrance with lantern

frontage

Golden Chanterelles on Fornethy drive

Golden Chanterelles back in the Balintore kitchen