Scotland’s Home of the Year

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BBC1, Monday

By Alison Rowat

OKAY Scotland, stand by your neatly made beds, throw open those bi-fold doors and prepare to have your nooks and crannies inspected once more – Scotland’s Home of the Year is back.

Now in its fourth series, SHOTY feels like it is in with the bricks, no bad thing when to comes to home interiors shows.

Much of comfiness is due to the presenters, interior designer Anna Campbell Jones, architect Michael Angus, and blogger Kate Spiers. There is something about this trio that makes you feel they should be driving a camper van and have a dog called Scooby Doo. Whatever: after years of slight awkwardness they have gelled nicely.

The first of nine regional visits was to the Highlands. The one-bedroom Lorne Cottage in Fort William is possibly the smallest home there has been in the competition. Homeowners Ciara and Arran were fans of the show and had plans to enter one day when they had their “big house”. Opportunity had knocked now, however, much to their delight.

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There had already been one casualty in their battle to have a magazine standard home complete with mustard-coloured velour sofa. “We no longer let our wee dog Ghost on the bed or couch since moving here,” confessed Ciara. Across Scotland, smirking dog lovers placed bets on how long that would last.

With Lorne Cottage cheered to the rafters for its “cute as a button” look it was on to The Tower, a church conversion in the Black Isle dating from the 1870s and modernised in the 1980s. This was home to Rachel, Rob and dog Tia, who was allowed on the couch.

Rachel had wanted to downsize to a small fishing village, but ended up with a gaff that could host a medium-sized royal wedding. Stunning, but you had to wonder, with a shiver, what it cost to heat.

It was the perfect location for Anna to start throwing round terms such as mis en place and Escher-like staircase (I had to look it up). You don’t get many of those on Changing Rooms.

The final stop was Loch Lann House, an 18th century dovecote folly in Culloden that had Michael reminiscing about the good old days when you could buy a piece of land and build what you wanted on it.

Fortunately, this was a charming pile, hoaching with character as we say in the west. Home to Rory, Eilidh and the youngest of their six children, Loch Lann had Anna’s favourite thing, a hanging chair, which she rushed to try. Then again, the house had pretty much everything crammed into it, including a golden bath from Paris, so the chances of a hanging chair were good.

Michael said the place called to mind a George Bernard Show quote: “Some people see the world and ask why, and there are others that dream of things that never were and say why not?” Personally, I was thinking “nightmare to clean” but each to their own.

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The winner, Lorne Cottage, should answer some of the criticism levelled at previous series: that SHOTY is all about fancy homes and expensive, designer-led style, what you might call a faux fur throw and nae knickers approach to home decoration. But Lorne Cottage won largely because the judges took to its vibe straight away. Who hasn’t done that when falling for a home?

On to the final, then, for Ciara, Arran, and Ghost. We wish all well; especially the bright yellow sofa. Next week: central.

On iPlayer and BBC Scotland channel, Wednesday, 8pm