An Oban native’s attentive revival of a neglected country house serves as a reminder that the gateway to the isles is a destination in its own right
Oban? Completed it, mate. Until recently, I genuinely thought I had. I’d slurped fat, salty oysters at the green seafood shack by the harbour; hiked up the hill to slip between the granite walls of McCaig’s folly; followed the esplanade round to Fingal’s Dog Stone, a 25-foot-tall rock with a halo of foliage sprouting from its ancient crevices. But I’d never spent more than a few hours there. I was always just passing through. That’s partly because I hadn’t spotted anywhere I fancied staying. Turns out I was looking in the wrong places. Five minutes from the ferry terminal, a turn-off down a sleepy country road leads to Home Farm Oban, a handsome white-harled house dating from 1667 which all but vanishes into the thick forest around it.
Many locals have no idea the house exists, but when it was listed for sale in 2018, Paul Fegan recognised it immediately. “I grew up in Oban, and my friends used to keep their horses in the stable behind it,” he says. “Even then, I knew it was special.”
The house was rundown but compelling enough to draw Paul back from Glasgow, where he worked in lm and music (if you ever went to the Triptych festival or saw the brilliant Aidan Moffat documentary ‘Where You’re Meant to Be’, you have Paul to thank). He gured doing this place up as a rental, and living in the adjoining annexe, would afford him more creative freedom in his career.
He’s tending the garden when I arrive with my family, wildflowers shimmering in the long grass, Woody the cat and Toots the dog pootling around as a red squirrel shins a tree. “You might see the pine martens later,” he says. “We call that the Disney tree.”
It wasn’t exactly a fairytale getting to this point. Paul grafted tirelessly for a couple of years with a team of labourers to restore the two-storey house, stripping it back to its shell and reimagining the interiors. It’s now a cosy bear hug of a home, all tan wood and ochre walls layered with kilims and sheepskins. There are five bedrooms, four en-suite, each decorated with a mix of Scandinavian and antique furniture.
Paul’s visual expertise has travelled effortlessly from film to real life, every corner filled with an assemblage of paintings and ceramics plucked from auctions and markets. “We wanted the house to feel like the kind of place we like to stay,” he says, referring to his partner Antonia, whose job as a travel writer means the couple have a deeper understanding than most of what makes a holiday home memorable and inviting. Sometimes it’s the little things, like the coffee from local roasters Hinba and box of Oban Chocolate Company chocolates that greet us in the kitchen.
Then there are the bigger wow moments: a stonking great freestanding bathtub; a music room with a record player and stacks of vinyl; the luminous gold sitting room where wildlife can be observed from the bay window by day (binoculars provided, of course) and a projector screen unfurled at night for film marathons under bundles of blankets.
No need for FOMO if you’re travelling solo (or à deux) and can’t hire the full shebang. Paul recently finished converting the hayloft of the old stone stables he frequented as a boy; this is now Roost, a one-bed apartment strung with pine beams which condenses all of Home Farm’s best bits into one bijou space. It’s outrageously romantic, though worth noting that you may have neighbours in the form of two barn owls who are often found cooried up in the roosting box Paul built for them on the roof. I can relate. It’s hard to prise ourselves away from our cocoon, but the weather is too glorious not to pop out to Ganavan Sands for a paddle.
Later, on a wander round Oban’s shops, I pick up a very reasonable sheepskin rug at coffee and homeware shop Anchor & Steam. Then, over vinegar-drenched portions of fish and chips that would defeat Fingal himself, we watch the ferries return from the islands. Kerrera, Mull, Tiree. “Do you fancy it?” asks my husband. Nah, not this time. I’m happy staying put.
Home Farm Oban costs from £595/night (four nights minimum). Roost costs from £250/night (two nights minimum).
Visit the Home Farm Oban website | Follow Home Farm Oban on Instagram
Like the look of Home Farm Oban, but want to take your holiday further in land? Try a stop-off at Loch Lomond Arms in Luss.
Audacious design meets artful storytelling at Loch Lomond Arms
