kildonan house

i used to go here in the sixties when it was a boarding school,went back in 1999 and took my children(we live in australia) and they were horrified that we had to stay here on our own,and only came home for holidays,mind you it didnt seem as big and daunting as it did when i was 6yrs old

it' a lovely house with quite a bit of history attached to it. also very strange it has 7 doors(1 for every day of the week)12 chimneys(1 for every month) and 365 window(1 for every day of the year) my ex partner and i used to operate a restaurant in the building called the wallace rooms

I have recently come across the house in a book I am reading about Idena Sackville (The Bolter) for whom the house was built for the princely sum of £73500! quite a lot of money in 1917. Idena led a very colourful life and never saw Kildonan completed. Loveley to see it is stil around.

I have to correct the 'architectual history' info.

The house was built for a Captain Euan Wallace MP, who was willed the lands by his uncle, with the proviso that he must live there.

He commissioned Glasgow architect James Miller, to build the house in a Corswold style - work commenced 1915 and ceased in 1923.

His first wife, Idena Sackville, began a relationship with a Major Gordon, whilst the Captain was off to war. On his return and after an ultimatum, she chose the Major and a divorce was arranged.

Marriage to the Major lasted a year, before he died.

The colourful Idena, went on to have several more husbands, including the Hon. Jocelyn Hay.

Wallace married again, to Barbara Lutyens, daughter of the architect Sir Edward Lutyens. They had 3 sons.

Barbara always associated Kildonan with her husband's first wife, so in 1937 the family moved to a permanaent home in Lavington Park, West Sussex.

Kildonan then became their summer retreat.