£5 A Year Lease: In 1985
Yes Just Five Pounds A Year!
This island-based building is where Unique Property Bulletin was born. Indeed, the Accidental Success book was also written in this structure once the roof was renovated and made waterproof. Plus the new windows and doors we managed to get across to the island were helpful in keeping the rain outside.
^^ The Old Lookout Building on Davaar Island: 1985 ^^
Last year, 2024, our book-keeper showed us what sprouted from such a wreck as the one pictured above. What we leased this and access to the island for £5 each year. We were stunned when our book~keeper showed us what she had added up ~ a multi million pound conglomerate owned by its members. The Co-Op of unique properties! Bona fides from our book~keeper: click here.
This page is about the Old Lookout Station and some “before” and “after” pictures which are usually interesting to compare.
But most of all, we realised with the review of this page and some island-based peace, quiet and philosophical reflection that unique property is about more than just bricks and mortar. We’ve had a look at our own situations and that was a shock Why? Because 8 out of 11 of our volunteer crew would happily live in the Old Lookout building. So the next important matter is about…
You.
Are you happy?
If you can, it may be an idea to spend a short holiday break on an island. Why? Well at the Old Lookout it was, by necessity “off grid” before that concept became fashionable.
No pesky cold-callers on the phone, no phishing fraudsters on the computers. No worries when SSE plc electricity company direct debit grabs £19,428.46 out f your bank account when the “normal” electricity Direct Debit is £198.74 (fact: click here)).
=> Our time at the Old Lookout building had a pleasant walk on the beach to collect washed up wood for the wood-burning stove and electricity was via a generator + small hydro-electric system, several heavy duty batteries.
No bills.
Very Happy.
orry batteries a(the caravan type for holding charge)
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, no . Then another holiday at a modest cabin that is off-grid (and switch your phones off).
Right now, we have a quandary. That £5 has grown into £2,053,838 of Unique Property “Mischief” buildings and assets (accounts: click here) and £2,518,00 of non-club assets. Over £4.5 million quid. From an unusual hobby and an ccentric bunch of friends.
^^ Davaar Island & The Dhorlin Causeway ^^ ^^ Please Contact The Owner For Safe Crossing Arrangements: Here ^^ ^^ Photograph Author: Simon Butterworth ~ Alamy Fee Paid: Here ^^
It has been over 40 years since Russ McLean was very grumpy about being assigned the remote Campbeltown Police Station as his first posting. He had played a prank on his classmate Russell Dunn at Tulliallan Police. McLean had left a note on Russell Dunn’s desk with the words “assigned to the Mull of Kintyre Police Station.” There is no such building, but it is the farthest away from “real” crimefighting in the city streets of Glasgow that Russ McLean could think of. The joke of being posted at a far, far away place was taken well by constable Dunn.
But the course sergeant just happened to wander in (it was lunchtime) and ta chief superintendent was with him. The chief saw some humour, but the sergeant was furious.
This is one of those sliding doors moment. It seems ridiculous to think that hadtone cop not played a prank on the other, you would not be reading this and several lives would have turned out quite differently.
Why?
The sergeant at that prank had zero sense of huour and the next day a “real” note was left on Russ McLean’s desk… “Your duties will include guarding Christmas trees and distilleries at a dar away place!” It is a thing in the police service where coping mechanisms include dark humour. This was more ironic pranking, but it had an interesting result.
Do you notice the island behind this musician…
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Do you notice the musician painting thenew tin roof on his olf wreck of a home…
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ight now, in October 2025, reflecting back 40 years to a lifetime ago, the unbidden images and events of pure decency at that island sanctuary come flooding back.
t gave us sheer joy as thefuture was grim after an accident at work in the 1980s, but everything worked out alright in the end. A lot of worry wasted as the final tally is looking none too shabby: click here.
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This next part is crucial. It is about…
You
If you do nothing else from reading this page
eccentric hobby, some In total .
t is not just the surroundings of an island location that extinguish the worries of daily life… those emails and texts 24 hours a day and addictive screentiming years of your life away.
Nor the buzz from a new jobs being created.
There is something more and we are struggling to put it into words.
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Despite her work as a photographer, animal life campaigner, cookbook author, musician and vegetarian pioneer, Linda said her greatest achievement was her four children with Paul: Heather, Mary, Stella and James.
our crew of eccentrics can manage this and have great enjoyment in the process of 81 buildings and 203 new jobs, then we reckon some of our readers who have a passion for these things can do too. If we can help, please just get in touch (here). We’d be delighted to help you inn any way we can. The best start may be for you find the home that you like and is peaceful, so that you have the grace and space to think about where it is you want to end up and what you really want to do? The “how” will follow naturally. That is a key thing we learnt from our time on Davaar Island. The proof is in the fact there is now a body of work and literally a pile of Land Registry title-deeds to give veracity to the old jack London quote:
^^ The Old Lookout, Davaar Island, 1984 ^^
This ruinous looking item was a magnificent but diminutive wreck of a coastguard station called the Old Lookout. The location was on a small island. Population one. Occasionally two. The lease was granted by the owner of Davaar Island, a very kindly Mr Joe Turner Snr., at £5 (five pounds) a year.
Part of the lease agreement was to commence restoration of the Old Lookout so that the building was at least watertight and glazed. Mr Turner wanted the structure to be made safe and not look like an eyesore. So our first unique property adventure began.
Here are the “before” and “after pictures on Davaar Island. The most recent picture (below) is about the third renovation: there is a 40 year time period between the two photos. Our tenure lasted around 9 years. Alas, work in London meant it was only fair and right to surrender the lease and let the next custodian enjoy this peaceful sanctuary of a place.
^^ The Old Lookout, Davaar Island, 2024 ^^
We are no longer resident on Davaar Island. It is certainly possible to book the Old Lookout from Mr Turner’s son, but sadly we haven’t been back for 20 years. Though even though we no longer lease this property, and haven’t seen in in two decades, it always gives us a buzz when a reader books a few days in the modernised Old Lookout building: click here.
. (here).
Although after having a lifetime of unique adventures in property around the whole of the UK and even America where we accidentally bought a hotel, the call of this place… the group of islands we lived or stayed on: Davaar Island, Ailsa Craig Island, Sanda Island, the island of Gigha, the islands of Islay and Jura and especially the place the founder of this eccentric publication grew up: the Isle of Arran, means that by 2026, we will have come full-circle with a permanent set of Unique Property Bulletin offices located across the water on the island of Arran. We will update our members and readers of the new Aisle of Arran address imminently .
This next pair of photos quite vividly display the difference between the “before” and “after” condition…
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Permission is given to reproduce this photograph providing the attribution to the copyright owner, Unique Property Bulletin Ltd., is given underneath the photograph.
Here is a selection of “before” and “after” photos for reference of those who have enjoyed staying at the Old Lookout.
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rmission is given to reproduce this photograph providing the attribution to the copyright owner, Unique Property Bulletin Ltd., is given underneath the photograph.
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ermission is given to reproduce this photograph providing the attribution to the copyright owner, Unique Property Bulletin Ltd., is given underneath the photograph.
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e concluded our lease in the early 1990s. Mr Turner Snr’s son and daughter-in-law-law now operate the property as holiday accommodation.
Please contact the owners of the building if you would like to stay her for a holiday: Click Here.
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Here is a charming and remarkably well produced video illustrating a holiday at the Old Lookout on Davaar Island. It gives a very good set of film segments to see the vast improvements and high standards with which the building is now maintained and made available for letting and enjoyment of guests and holidays by Mr and Mrs Turner…
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The customer’s healthy CREDIT balance of £27,466.65 was decimated by a rogue SSE plc Direct Debit grab of £19,428.46 instead of the “normal” £198.74 extraction. SSE plc are: (i). A criminally convicted organisation; (ii). Loathed and rated as “bad” by 93% of 4,023 their customers’ on Trustpilot; (iii). SSE plc are no longer fit to hold the licences granted to them by OFGEM. As a result, Unique Property Bulletin Ltd., now intend to financially sponsor registered charities and CICs who wish to deploy the Land Reform (Scotland) Acts, so that local communities can band together and take ownership of SSE plc assets, plus their subsidiary, Scottish & Southern Energy Power Distribution Limited., assets by the communities whom they are supposed to serve.
