Images from a series of visits to Travebank House, and the neighbouring Courtyard Restaurant and Tackroom …
Travebank House was built in the 1830’s as a coaching inn, with a coachhouse and stable sitting alongside it. The house is a substantial four-storey farmhouse, with big splayed dormer windows on the top floor which are typical of eastern Scotland. Unfortunately, Travebank was completed just as the nearby Dundee–Arbroath railway opened, so it was never utilised for its intended role. It served various purposes over the years, and from the 1970’s the coachhouse was used a restaurant combined with a tackroom and saddlery for equestrian leather goods. Conchies’ famous riding school is just a mile down the road, on the suicidal double bends at Cotside, and many of the local farms keep horses, so although it was never busy when you drove past, the Country Set were often to be seen climbing into their Range Rovers …
Travebank, with its tackroom and the Courtyard Restaurant, sat in a loop of by-passed road, but it was still close enough to the A92 to attract a lot of passing trade. I’m guessing that the loop was part of the original Dundee-Arbroath turnpike, which dates from the same time as Ardestie Toll. From what I remember, the restaurant was rather expensive (I was a hard-up student …) and it served Scottish recipes using local ingredients; with hindsight, that’s pretty commendable, having a policy to buy local years before the “celebrity chefs” on TV thought they invented the idea. Anyhow, it was a place to go for a special occasion, and had two big glazed arched windows where the horse and cart ports had once been. The restaurant interior must have had a feeling of class at one time … when Lovat green ceilings, claret-coloured walls and brass eyeball spotlights were fashionable. The 1980’s, in other words; although I seem to remember reading that it was revamped in 1990!
Travebank House is quite grand in its own way, with ornate cast iron balusters on a stone “winder” stair which sits within a circular stair tower at the back. It’s a Baronial feature on a Georgian-period building, and quite photogenic from the inside. Alas the timber bridles holding up the top landing are f*cked, so you reach the top and perch in mid-air, hoping the stair holds whilst you lean over, breathing in, and stop down the camera. The basement is full of crap, but the selection of wallpapers throughout is stunning
and there’s a dusky pink chaise longue stranded in an upstairs bedroom, on a drunken floor. From the top of the house, you look out over the walled garden at the back, and the small den that the Pitairlie Burn runs in, alongside it. The garden must have been productive at one time, but is full of daffodils and bluebells in spring, and rampant weeds during summer.
Travebank was by-passed for a second time a few years ago, and when the new Dundee-Arbroath dual carriageway was constructed on the other side of it. In 2001, the Courtyard closed for good, and Travebank House was vacated: the road they sit on became stranded like an ox-bow lake. The road builders’ camp sat alongside it, and once work was complete three years ago, the whole area was abandoned to the trees and crows. Travebank House is now in poor condition – several floors have collapsed – and the roof has also decayed to the point where the spring rains percolate through the building and pool on the basement floor. The Courtyard is in better condition … and better boarded too. Although not ned-proof: I’ve paid a few visits over time, and each time a new opportunity has opened itself up …
An attempt was made in 2005 to redevelop the buildings (euphemism: knock them down and build “executive” ranch-style bungalows on the site), but that was refused by the Planners. Destiny uncertain …
Travebank House was built in the 1830’s as a coaching inn, with a coachhouse and stable sitting alongside it. The house is a substantial four-storey farmhouse, with big splayed dormer windows on the top floor which are typical of eastern Scotland. Unfortunately, Travebank was completed just as the nearby Dundee–Arbroath railway opened, so it was never utilised for its intended role. It served various purposes over the years, and from the 1970’s the coachhouse was used a restaurant combined with a tackroom and saddlery for equestrian leather goods. Conchies’ famous riding school is just a mile down the road, on the suicidal double bends at Cotside, and many of the local farms keep horses, so although it was never busy when you drove past, the Country Set were often to be seen climbing into their Range Rovers …
Travebank, with its tackroom and the Courtyard Restaurant, sat in a loop of by-passed road, but it was still close enough to the A92 to attract a lot of passing trade. I’m guessing that the loop was part of the original Dundee-Arbroath turnpike, which dates from the same time as Ardestie Toll. From what I remember, the restaurant was rather expensive (I was a hard-up student …) and it served Scottish recipes using local ingredients; with hindsight, that’s pretty commendable, having a policy to buy local years before the “celebrity chefs” on TV thought they invented the idea. Anyhow, it was a place to go for a special occasion, and had two big glazed arched windows where the horse and cart ports had once been. The restaurant interior must have had a feeling of class at one time … when Lovat green ceilings, claret-coloured walls and brass eyeball spotlights were fashionable. The 1980’s, in other words; although I seem to remember reading that it was revamped in 1990!
Travebank House is quite grand in its own way, with ornate cast iron balusters on a stone “winder” stair which sits within a circular stair tower at the back. It’s a Baronial feature on a Georgian-period building, and quite photogenic from the inside. Alas the timber bridles holding up the top landing are f*cked, so you reach the top and perch in mid-air, hoping the stair holds whilst you lean over, breathing in, and stop down the camera. The basement is full of crap, but the selection of wallpapers throughout is stunning
and there’s a dusky pink chaise longue stranded in an upstairs bedroom, on a drunken floor. From the top of the house, you look out over the walled garden at the back, and the small den that the Pitairlie Burn runs in, alongside it. The garden must have been productive at one time, but is full of daffodils and bluebells in spring, and rampant weeds during summer.
Travebank was by-passed for a second time a few years ago, and when the new Dundee-Arbroath dual carriageway was constructed on the other side of it. In 2001, the Courtyard closed for good, and Travebank House was vacated: the road they sit on became stranded like an ox-bow lake. The road builders’ camp sat alongside it, and once work was complete three years ago, the whole area was abandoned to the trees and crows. Travebank House is now in poor condition – several floors have collapsed – and the roof has also decayed to the point where the spring rains percolate through the building and pool on the basement floor. The Courtyard is in better condition … and better boarded too. Although not ned-proof: I’ve paid a few visits over time, and each time a new opportunity has opened itself up …
An attempt was made in 2005 to redevelop the buildings (euphemism: knock them down and build “executive” ranch-style bungalows on the site), but that was refused by the Planners. Destiny uncertain …
