
Sandford House is an outstanding example of an Arts & Crafts house, one of only two in Scotland designed by the celebrated architect Mackay Hugh Baillie Scott. The house was built for the Valentine family in the early 1900s, Harden J Valentine being a very successful Dundee photographic publisher notable for his firm’s holiday postcards.
About 30 members of the Society enjoyed a conducted tour of the house led by our hosts Ralph Webster and Evelyn Hardie.


Notable features of the house include a minstrel’s gallery in the main hall and an Arts & Crafts tiled wishing well in the courtyard.
An interesting discovery during the restoration was that the external walls are of cavity brick construction, perhaps explaining why the house has avoided the dampness problems that have plagued other Arts & Crafts properties of the period. A number of our members had fond memories of the house in its days as the Sandford Country House Hotel.

Our tour culminated with the traditional ENFPS drinks and exquisite nibbles in the house’s spacious kitchen/dining room overlooking the Tay. A donation of the proceeds of ticket sales was made to our hosts’ chosen charity, the RNLI.