Scotland at Home How Scotland Works

Scotland is changing and growing.

More than five million people now live and work here...

..from the big cities to the Highlands and Islands.

You think it's just a quiet backwater where practically nothing goes on,

but it's not. People work very, very hard to make a living.

It's not easy to make a living out here.

Life in the wilderness is being transformed by technology.

Far-flung communities are becoming better connected.

I've no idea how to fly this thing, but I've got an app!

LAUGHTER

And across Scotland,

people are finding new ways to create their ideal home.

I'm the only one that lives in a boat in my class.

So how does modern Scotland work?

How does Scotland's infrastructure keep the country moving?

How are Scotland's remotest communities facing the future,

and how is home life in Scotland changing in the 21st century?

This series goes to the heart of contemporary Scottish life

to reveal how Scotland works.

Scotland is home to almost two and a half million households,

an increase of 7% in the last decade.

They all need somewhere to live.

During the 20th Century, housing in Scotland experienced a revolution.

People moved from the country to the city,

tenements gave way to tower blocks,

and new towns sprang up across the central belt.

But in 21st century Scotland,

finding a home can still be a challenge.

So how are today's Scots tackling this problem?

How are Scotland's most traditional kinds of properties

being repurposed for the modern world?

What goes into creating the ideal home of today?

This is Scotland at home.

This is the stairs, which is our fire escape.

This is basically a chute for your rubbish.

'Lift going down.'

There's 542 stairs if you're walking them.

Betty has been living in this flat on the top floor of a block

in Aberdeen city centre since it was first built in 1978.

I would have been 38th here, and I came in, straight from new.

And the reason I came is because I used to bide across the road,

and I like inner city living.

This was actually slum clearance.

Like, it was tenement flats,

and then they cleared them and put the multies up.

Aberdeen has one of the highest concentrations

of tower blocks in Scotland.

Most were built during the 1960s and '70s

as a radical solution to the city's housing problems.

Most of the folk that I ken lived in the area,

and they wanted to come into the multi

because it still gave them their inner city living.

INTERVIEWER: And they were brand-new, brand spanking new.

Brand spanking new.

You'd to leave them for six months to see if they cracked or anything

before you could even put wallpaper on your walls!

Tower blocks like this one often get a bad press in Scotland.

But Betty wouldn't live anywhere else.

On a nice day, you've got all these clear views right across the city.

You can see right up the coast,

and then this way takes you to the south.

Aberdeen's tower blocks

are currently being refurbished by the council,

and becoming more sought-after than they have been in years.

But the city, like much of Scotland, is still facing a housing shortage.

Today, Aberdeen is one of the fastest-growing cities in Scotland.

It's now home to over 228,000 people,

and the population is projected to grow by more than 25%

over the next 20 years.

All those people are going to need somewhere to live.

So down the road,

an ambitious plan is taking shape that could point to a solution.

It harks back to an earlier housing innovation -

the new town.

In the '60s and '70s,

new towns began to spring up across Scotland's central belt.

Livingston, East Kilbride, Cumbernauld -

these were to be the communities of the future.

Since they were built,

Scotland's original new towns have had a mixed reputation.

But today, ten miles south of Aberdeen,

a new town for the 21st century is being born.

It's called Chapelton,

and it's largely the vision of one man -

the landowner, the Duke of Fife.

We actually have planning permission for 4,000 houses,

but that's really only half the total, that's half the area.

So ultimately we're looking at a masterplan of some 8,000 houses,

and I think that will take 40 years at least to build.

Chapelton is a development with a difference.

Many new housing estates in Scotland are built as add-ons

to existing towns and cities.

But Chapelton is an attempt

to build a completely new community from scratch.

It has been modelled on traditional Scottish towns

like Montrose and St Andrews.

If it succeeds,

this will be one of the first new towns of its kind in Scotland.

In terms of the overall vision for Chapelton,

it's actually very simple.

We simply want to design a place that people feel happy living in.

It really is as simple as that.

Each of these neighbourhoods will have a small centre,

which will provide a limited range of services,

but it may be the home to the primary school as well,

and by creating that little hub there, people will walk up to it,

and in walking up to it, they'll bump into their neighbours,

they'll talk to their neighbours, and that's part of forming a community.

So what we're trying to achieve here

is urban design that allows people to walk around,

feel really comfortable in doing that, and the car moves through -

you have to have cars - it's very important people can get their cars

to where they work or where they want to shop or where they live.

It's very important that can happen but in a way that doesn't dominate.

In one of the first streets to be completed,

Alistair Struthers and his family

are getting ready to move into their new home.

Through here - albeit it's a bit of a work in progress - is the kitchen.

So we've got a dining space,

and we've got the kitchen at the other end,

which is covered in boxes, dust, dirt,

and all the other things that come with construction.

This is going to be our lounge.

So this is where my wife and my...

We've got a wee 11-week-old boy,

so this is where he's going to grow up.

We're going to be here probably for the next 40-odd years.

I love the idea that this town can become

whatever the people that are living in it want to make of it.

It's a really exciting concept.

I've never been involved in it, and I know nobody else here has ever

been involved in creating a whole new town, basically by ourselves.

CHILDREN LAUGH

Down the road, another family has already moved in.

Boomie and Hope Laqcoulia are originally from Nigeria.

They came to Scotland 18 years ago and settled in Aberdeen.

But with a growing family, they needed more space.

And so when they heard about the plans for Chapelton,

they decided to take a leap of faith and move here.

It met more than what we wanted. Yeah.

It's, like, more than our expectation.

It's lovely.

Lovely view.

And for the first few weeks,

it felt like we were staying in a holiday home or something like that!

Yeah. Felt like we were in a hotel. Yeah!

Most houses in Nigeria, you paint your houses yourself,

whatever colours you want it to be, so they're quite colourful.

So having different colours here, you're kind of like,

"Oh, yeah, this is good." SHE LAUGHS

Rather than everything looking all the same, you know,

so all the houses are different.

We stayed in Aberdeen...

ten years in the same place,

but we only really connected to one neighbour.

Yeah.

Here, we've already connected to pretty much everybody you can see. SHE LAUGHS

When it's completed,

Chapelton could have as many as seven distinct neighbourhoods.

Included in the plans are all the amenities

that people in any other Scottish town would take for granted -

shops, schools and office space.

And with so many young families moving in,

one service is a top priority -

the nursery.

This is going to be our baby unit,

which you can see is really nice and bright and light,

and lots of low windows,

so that the children can see outside onto the square,

and so that local people as they pass can see the children.

It's great for the children and the local community

to have that contact and be able to wave and see each other.

In terms of population growth, it's been very exciting. We've already had a number of babies.

We've had some twins, and I think certainly two other singletons.

So it's very exciting seeing the prams going about.

One of Chapelton's newest arrivals is baby Leone.

Her mum and dad moved here because they were drawn to the idea

of being part of this pioneering community.

A big part of the move to Chapelton was the feeling of community.

Already there seems to be a community vibe -

the local coffee shop -

you're getting to see the regulars there, and...

Just walking down the street, everyone says hello,

and neighbours pass you by, and everyone's, you know...

happy that everything's getting developed at the same time.

I can see the kids growing up here.

Going out on their first dates...

And us walking with our walking sticks

and our zimmer frames up the road!

So I think we won't move again.

The young families moving into Chapelton

and planning to grow old there already see it as a home for life.

But they can't know what the future will bring.

And as people get older, they're often faced with difficult choices

about where and how they make their homes.

For Scotland's ageing population, this is becoming a real challenge.

By 2037, it's projected that the number of Scots

aged over 75 will increase by 86%.

So how do we make homes for the elderly that really work?

In modern Scotland,

this is an issue that is inspiring some innovative solutions.

Peggy is 77.

Until a few months ago,

she lived independently in the south of England in her home of 43 years -

the place where she had raised her family.

But last year, Peggy's health deteriorated,

and she was struggling to cope on her own.

On you get. Go on!

So her son Robin persuaded her to come and live with him.

This was a big wrench for Peggy,

as it meant moving 600 miles north to Inverness-shire.

When I first moved here, I was so down,

because I'd left all my friends, all my lovely, lovely friends.

I am a very, very independent girl, and it was only out of desperation,

because I knew I couldn't carry on the way I was.

'At the moment, my mum is incredibly independent,

'and she has been all her life.'

And that's what we wanted, and she wanted -

we'd spoken about this before - her to be independent.

We came up with three options, and the options were really,

she moves into a flat in Inverness,

or she buys a house in the local village here, in Foyers,

or we look at building something here.

In the end, Robin and Peggy agreed

that the best option would be to build a new house for her

on Robin's land.

But this will be no traditional bungalow,

which would be very expensive and time-consuming to build.

Instead, Peggy's new home will be delivered on the back of a lorry,

ready-built and simply slotted into place.

This factory in Ayrshire creates innovative housing

for Scotland's rural areas.

Here, they build modular houses that can be transported

anywhere in the country and simply assembled on site.

This is Peggy's wee house.

The house at the moment has just been completed in its modules,

and we're just starting to pack the house up, ready for transportation.

This will be Peggy's front door,

and we can just head into the porch here.

This is the first and the smallest one of the modules.

So this is us into the second module, which is the lounge,

and we've got a nice log-burning stove in here.

Step into this next module, into the kitchen,

and we've designed this kitchen specifically

to suit Peggy's requirements.

And into the shower room here.

We've sort of future-proofed this shower room

particularly for Peggy, so that in the future,

it's still going to be really easy for her to access.

It's really exciting to be moving this house today,

because we're always building them onto customers' own plots,

usually in quite rural areas,

and each one comes with its own, kind of, logistical challenges.

Once we get up to Inverness, it's quite a tight turn into the site,

so we've created a space in the field opposite to let

the lorries turn in and access the site to get Peggy's house in place.

Loaded up, the convoy of trucks that will deliver Peggy's house sets off.

It's 200 miles from the factory to the building plot.

But once they arrive, the house will only take a couple of days to assemble.

But making a home is about more than just four walls and a roof,

it's about finding a place to live that fits our personalities

and our lives.

Glasgow-based interior designer, Margo Paton, has been

helping clients to create the homes of their dreams for over 20 years.

It's her job to get to the heart of what makes a house a home for each of them.

People invest such a lot in their homes,

not only financially but emotionally.

It colours how they feel about their lives, their home.

Quite often we feel like counsellors, yeah,

because people do come and they tell you so much about their lives

and they tell you a lot of personal stuff.

It's all information that you use to build up a picture

of who that person is and how they would like to live.

One of Margo's longest-standing clients is Trish.

Trish and her family have lived in this house in Killearn for 42 years.

She and her husband raised their three children here.

Two of them even got married here.

And over that time, Trish has never stopped improving and perfecting her home.

I get great pleasure in doing things with the house.

I just love placing things.

I think placing an ornament or something...

You don't plonk it down, you actually

make some movement with it.

I don't like things in straight lines.

Something about straight lines I don't like.

When I go into my daughters' houses,

you know, my son-in-laws say to their wives,

"Has your mother been in?"

because they find that the photograph frames are all

gathered together in little groups.

But for Trish, home is about far more than arranging ornaments.

Its rooms and objects are alive with memories and feelings.

This one in particular.

My son used to call it "the good room".

You know, I used to have to say to them,

"You have to knock before you come in here

"and you have to remember the password."

But they never did, they used to barge in here.

I remember when I was growing up,

in my mum and dad's good room, as I would...

we were never allowed in at all.

All these little nests of tables - I remember Mum and Dad using them

for their martinis a lot so, yeah,

I just quite like this room because it's got so much

I remember of my younger days and, well, my husband's younger days.

But now, Trish has come to a difficult decision -

it's time for her and her husband to leave this house and move on.

You know, it's a large garden here.

I know my husband likes doing the garden,

but for him I think it would be quite good to have a smaller garden.

But also, driving now -

especially night-time driving -

I'm just fed up with driving out here.

I just think it would be nicer to be near my family.

So Trish has enlisted Margo,

who designed much of the interior of her house over the years,

to help her create a new home,

where she will feel as happy as she does there.

It will be a close collaboration.

Well, she has ideas and I have ideas.

I have a strong sense of style I think, and Margo realises that

and that's why... Doesn't try to, you know,

"You've got to do it my way."

That's what I like about her.

She has my say, she'll hear me out and we'll compromise.

But one thing isn't open to negotiation -

Trisha's precious heirlooms, which connect her to her past.

I'm taking everything, everything from...

I'll find a room for it anyway.

For Margo, designing a new home like this is a sensitive job

They've lived in that house for so long.

They have so much emotional investment in that home

and, you know, they close the door and they leave that behind,

and it's about trying to recreate that for them in a new home

with a new environment, a new neighbourhood -

just a completely different feel.

So when they walk through the door of that home they think, "Yeah, I'm home."

Hi. Hello.

Today, Margo is meeting Trish to discuss how some of her

most valued pieces will fit into her new house.

So what we'll do is we'll accommodate as much as possible of

your really precious stuff in the drawing room.

And it's just a different configuration of rooms,

so you can have all those lovely pieces that you've treasured for all those years...

Because you change your house, you don't want to put everything back

in a similar... No, you don't. No. ..format.

Your homes are always family homes, aren't they?

Yeah. I'll be very sad, I think.

Emotional when the time comes to actually pack up and leave,

I'm sure my husband will feel the same.

Well, I presume my husband's coming with me but...

I'm sure he will but...

Yeah, I'm being positive about it.

I really think it's another...

..another thing in my life that I'm going to enjoy.

It's a new phase, isn't it? A new phase. A new decade.

Whatever you like to call it. Exactly.

And my youngest granddaughter - she's now four -

came running up to me and said,

"Grandma, we're 59 steps away from you."

Trish is lucky to have found her perfect house

just down the road from her children and grandchildren.

For many Scots, especially younger families,

finding somewhere to live is a real challenge.

New homes are being built in Scotland.

The latest figures show that construction began

on more than 15,000 new houses last year.

The question is - will this be enough to keep up with demand

and will they be affordable?

Frustrated by the difficulties of getting on the housing ladder,

some Scots are choosing to bypass the market altogether

and make their homes on the water.

It's a different way of life.

I see all the seasons.

And get to know all the local people that are walking by with their dogs

and the different variety of people that live on the canal.

Scotland has 137 miles of canals,

and today it's estimated that over 100 people

make their homes on these waterways.

That might not sound like much, but the numbers are rising

and there are now 13 sites across Scotland

where people can permanently moor their houseboats.

Retired printer, Davie Brown and his dog, Brody,

have been living on their boat, The Methil, for the past 10 years.

He's certainly getting himself all spruced up.

Davie was bitten by the bug while volunteering on a local charity barge,

and he's never looked back.

He's currently moored on the Forth And Clyde Canal at Auchinstarry,

just to the northeast of Glasgow.

But should he fancy a change of scene,

he can simply sail away, taking his home with him.

It's refreshing. Certainly the cobwebs don't grow on you.

There's always something happening round about me.

It's either swans or even people walking by.

Permission to come aboard?

Permission to come aboard?

'This is the stern of the boat,'

which is basically the mark of a sleeping area.

This is my bed and that's his bed.

Is that good?

Every window's a picture as you go along.

What a place to go. This is heaven.

Heaven.

A bit chilly this morning, eh?

A wee bit of a nip in the air.

They're all nice houses but

they're still four walls and nothing moves.

All you do, you either look at pictures or you look at a television

but on this thing I've got... the world's moving round about you.

Hold on, I'm going to have to press a horn here for this fisherman.

So are you ready? I'm going to peep.

There's the bridge in front of me now.

It's a nice day.

Even on a cold day, get out here on a crisp morning

and you feel the ice breaking underneath the bow of the boat

and you hear that tish, tish, tish, smack.

Then you get a bow wave and you can see that, if it's frozen completely,

you see the ice just rising up and down and then you get the crack.

It's just something you can never do with a house.

Obviously, my health, you know, I'm not getting any younger,

but until the day that I can't lift my legs up on to that bow,

I'll be on a boat.

It's not just retired people like Davie

who find canal living irresistible.

For some young families in search of a home,

living on the water is a surprisingly practical solution.

Although it can still be hard work.

I think we just thought...

..we'd just be, kind of, boating

and hanging out on a boat and having fun.

I don't think we really had any clue how much work it would be.

I don't know whether we would have bought this particular boat

if we...quite understood.

11 years ago, Kirsty and Mark

swapped solid ground for a floating home.

Since then, they've had two children

and the family now lives on this 100-year-old Dutch barge.

One night, I think we were struggling, newly married,

trying to get on the housing ladder, all the rest of it...

Living in a flat in Glasgow. And came up with this crazy plan

and nobody really talked...

us out of it.

And we came here.

We just loved the surrounding area and all the bike paths

and the canoe club and the climbing and the walks...

and everything...

We just thought that there was so much to do here for kids, that we

thought it would be a great place to have a family.

And for the kids, Ethan and Orla, who have never known anything else,

having a boat for a home seems perfectly natural.

I think I like it here better than a house.

INTERVIEWER: What do you think it is that's...

..better here than a house?

Well, you get to move about and...

..you don't really get to do that in a house.

Everyone in my class lives in a house.

I'm the only one that lives in a boat in my class.

The amazing outside space that we have, for me,

totally outweighs the disadvantages of having little inside space.

I just think, as long as they're together, you can kind of trust them

to go out and play and they've got such a huge area to play in.

And there's generally people about and neighbours who are out

and about - because it's kind of an outdoor life -

that there's always someone around to look out for them.

I think they do have more independence than

I would probably allow them if they lived in a street.

INTERVIEWER: Would you ever yearn for four walls and

the central heating and double glazing?

I don't think I could do that now.

I think...I would have to get my land legs again.

SHE CHUCKLES

I know it sounds weird, but I think I would feel claustrophobic in a house

because it would take some getting used to,

just being rooted in one place.

For me, our home is within the boat but it's also all of this.

And I think I would feel quite contained

if I had a house with a little garden.

I don't think...I would last long.

And when I'm older, if I can afford it,

I would like to have a canal boat.

What kind would you like?

Same kind as this one.

Canal living might work for these Scots, but it's not for everyone.

And back on dry land, property and the ground it's built on,

is getting more expensive all the time.

In the past decade, house prices in Scotland have increased by 35%

and they're projected to keep rising.

The average price of a Scottish house is now ?170,000.

And if you want to build your own house, as people in other

European countries often do,

the price of land is even more prohibitive.

This is just as true for Scotland's rural areas

as it is for towns and cities.

Here, most land has historically been owned by relatively few people

and building plots for new homes are still in short supply.

Across the Highlands and Islands, the lack of housing is

forcing some locals into a more modest type of accommodation.

One that can have its own advantages.

I have a very, very, very tiny council tax.

The biggest thing's, possibly... in the winter is the gas...

you go through just keeping the place warm.

I have a generator for electricity that I charge

batteries in the caravan.

The winter is maybe more expensive

but in the summer it costs you virtually nothing.

Ian has been living in this caravan on the Isle of Mull

for the past year.

High rents on the island and a lack of availability in the area

meant that this was the best option for him.

And he found that it actually suited him pretty well.

I'm out working most days all day, so it's really a place to sleep

and rest, and just relax

and be warm and dry.

It fills all those needs, really.

I don't have lots of hot water for things like showers...

..but I have means for dealing with that.

I can go to Tobermory for a shower and things like that.

I don't have television but I can read.

I can play music. I can...

It, it...

It's a dry, warm place, roof over the head

and that's everything really.

It's all you need.

HE CHUCKLES

Ian's housing situation is by no means unique

in this part of Scotland.

It is a big problem.

Even for people coming to work here, it's always a problem getting

somewhere to live.

And rental accommodation is not that cheap either.

It's an ageing population...

but there's no houses available for young people

to live and the community's in danger of dying.

But for Ian, there's an obvious solution - freeing up more

private land for house building.

If necessary, by compelling owners to sell.

I'm very radical about it, I have to say.

I think major, major land reform is needed in this country.

It makes me very angry the way some of the land is treated.

I know estates that are running really well

and do a lot for local people.

But the ones that aren't, I don't think there should be any sympathy

with them...

I have no sympathy for them at all, basically.

There's land not getting used the way it should get used.

Why can't some of this land be used for young people to come back to the

land and get the chance to build something and create something?

Create businesses and...

Erm...

So I want to see more land brought into the hands of the people

big time.

Change is coming.

Since 2003, when the first Scottish Land Reform Bill was

passed by Parliament,

communities have had the right to buy land

under certain circumstances.

Since then, 500,000 acres have passed into community ownership

across the country.

Here on Mull, Ian is set to benefit from one such scheme.

There's been nine crofts set up through the community

and that in itself is potential for nine people to have homes.

Ultimately, this community land buy-out will give Ian

the chance to build a permanent house

and develop his own croft in this corner of Mull he calls home.

Four hectares altogether, which is around about ten acres.

It goes into the trees there where there would be

the potential... The hope to build

a house - or somewhere to live in there.

In many ways it's been a dream of mine to see

people back on the land

and just community and crofting.

It's maybe a far-fetched dream

but if anything it's the only way

that's going to get people back

because buying houses and plots of land

are just unreachable for young people

the way the economy's going.

Some form of land tenure with security

and the potential to build a home and make a life

and make something off the land where they're just producing

their own meat and vegetables - and living off the land more.

It would be a wonderful thing for the future.

It's a step-by-step process. It's a long-term project, definitely.

HE CHUCKLES

Ian's new home will be a modern version of that traditional

Scottish house - the crofter's cottage.

But it will be more than just a roof over his head.

He'll be resettling this remote corner of Scotland

and bringing life back into it.

He'll grow vegetables and raise animals on the land,

much as previous generations did.

So his connection to this place, and to its past, runs deep.

In Inverness-shire, Peggy has been trying to put down new roots

after moving from the south of England to be near her son, Robin.

So now, Peggy is getting a brand-new house of her own,

delivered on the back of a lorry.

Today it will be assembled on-site,

assuming they can squeeze it down the track.

This one here, it's going to certainly be different

going up that road because the road's not very wide as it is

and there's a foot over either side,

so hopefully there's no damage on any of the hedges or bushes.

INTERVIEWER: So it's a bit of a precarious job, then?

Aye, this one here's a bit more ropey, aye!

Maybe have to do a wee bit of tree surgery.

HE CHUCKLES

The fact that this house has been pre-built in the factory

makes it extremely quick and cost-effective to put together.

When all five sections are assembled, Peggy will have

her own two-bedroom home, carefully configured to suit her needs.

The way the house is designed is that if her mobility

and things start going downhill, she can still stay in it.

Low-access showers, ramps up to the doors and everything.

So if her care needs increase in the future, the building will be there

and it's designed to allow us to provide that as well.

So what do you think? It's all coming on nicely.

Have you been peeking out the window?

I have.

I saw the first bit and I thought, "Not very big."

But there's more to come.

SHE CHUCKLES

I wave to everybody as they go by.

All five sections of the house are now on-site.

There's just one last problem for the team to overcome.

Our biggest concern in any of these builds is the weather

because the separate sections are sealed at the moment -

and weather-proofed -

but to put it together we have got to take that seal off.

INTERVIEWER: So if you get loads of rain like there was in the night,

are you hammered?

We will be, yeah.

It means we can't really...

We could certainly get the house in place

but we can't break the seals on it

because it would just...possibly ruin the house.

As the builders press on,

Peggy can see her new home take shape right before her eyes.

Moving in will mark a new chapter in her life

and allow her to keep her independence.

And I couldn't expect Robin

and Christiana to be there at my beck and call.

My house back home, it was lovely. I'd been there 40 years.

It's a long time and I think that was half my problem.

But now I've got that to look forward to - here I come!

SHE LAUGHS

When I saw them actually lifting the thing off,

I went, "My house! My house!"

SHE LAUGHS

Yeah, so...

Huge excitement?

Oh, it is. Beautiful.

With the rain starting to clear,

Peggy's house is finally nearing completion.

Well, that looks like that's the final unit in.

So that will be the two bedrooms going in and I would imagine

once that's done, they'll shunt things around, push it all together.

Get the porch in and then hopefully we'll have an idea

of how the thing's going to look but at the moment it's looking great.

So there you go, what do you think of that?

Is that it? Yeah.

I shall be pleased to see when it's all out.

Oh, yeah. Well, that's the bit... Oh, yeah.

The roof obviously needs to go on.

No, it's lovely. Lovely with the trees.

Yeah, it is. Yeah.

It sort of fills in quite nicely. You've got the trees all around.

Beautiful, Robin. Thank you. Beautiful.

The house is there. We can look after her.

We can keep an eye on her. Keeps the family group together.

It's the right thing to do for your family if you can.

Roots are important for most people's sense of home.

We feel attached, not just to a building,

but to it's place in the world and even its history.

And one iconic type of Scottish home is famous for its romantic,

historical associations - the castle.

But in 21st century Scotland, does anybody actually live in one?

It was built by my great-great-great grandfather exactly 200 years ago,

in the same year as the Battle of Waterloo.

This is Castle Forbes in Aberdeenshire,

home to the current Lord Forbes and his wife.

The land it's built on has been in the family

since the early 15th century, and since then,

generations of Forbes have called this place home.

That's my grandmother at the bottom, who was the last member

of the family to live here before we moved in.

I know she hoped that it would pass on to me one day,

but I could never see how I could possibly cope with it.

In the end, her wish has come true and that gives me

a lot of pleasure, actually, that I managed to keep it going.

But in the modern world, castle living doesn't come cheap

and keeping this place alive as a real home,

rather than a museum or a ruin, has been a huge challenge.

I was fortunate in that shortly after my grandmother died,

the oil business started up in Aberdeen

and I formed a company that serviced the oilrigs.

And that really gave us the wherewithal to

take the decision to move in here and do it up slowly.

Lady Forbes is just as committed to castle living as her husband.

She runs a perfumery business on the estate

that helps to pay for its upkeep.

You don't think of it as living in a castle, it's just

living in a normal home, normal house.

Sometimes rooms are bigger, sometimes rooms are smaller.

It's one of the few, if not only place around here that's

still lived in by the family that built it.

I could very easily move out in the winter to somewhere a bit warmer,

but, um... That's chicken. That's not the way it works.

Then you'd come back and then everything would be...

I couldn't do that. I just have to live in one place.

A house like this one, with deep roots in Scotland's past,

speaks volumes about how domestic life has changed over

the centuries, because while it was built for the upper-class,

it would have been home to a good number of more humble folk as well.

When the house was actually built,

there would have been an army of servants.

In fact I've got the details when it was actually let

during my great-great grandfather's time

and it was talking about space for up to 18 servants.

And with its long history, Castle Forbes has also become

a repository for some unusual objects from another age.

Now, this is quite an interesting piece of ironmongery.

It's called a scold's mask or a scold's bridle

and it was specifically designed to put on ladies

if they became too talkative after dinner.

It goes over your head and that goes into your mouth

and it does make it very difficult to talk.

And they could be padlocked at the back, you see?

I think every big house in Scotland really needs one.

But above all, it's the deep sense of family history that gives

this home its significance for the current owners.

These rooms have seen generations of Forbes grow up

and played host to some important guests.

When someone comes and stays, they write their name in it.

It has gone from...

..1919 until today.

Mr Chamberlain...

..with his fish.

That's Queen Mother with Malcolm's grandparents.

1935.

Baden Powell, outside the house.

Malcolm as a little boy.

Lord and Lady Forbes do still receive visitors here,

some of whom have an historical connection.

Today, a few Australian members of the extended family

have dropped in for a look around.

This two-handed sword belonged to Black Arthur, who was the younger

son of the eighth Lord Forbes and he was around at the time when we had a

lot of feuding with the Gordon Clan, particularly, and also the Leslies.

Our last name is Forbes, so we came to have a look at a bit of our heritage, obviously

from the complete opposite part of the world, so it's just been really good to

come here and see some of the more of the historical aspects of it.

We don't have that much history in Australia... Well, that dates back

this far. So to come somewhere that's 200 yeas old,

yeah, it's pretty exciting.

There we are. Lovely, thank you. Thank YOU.

It's pretty surprising actually.

We've been to a few castles on our trip so far

and this is completely different.

It's definitely more of a home than your average castle.

All the other ones are very touristy now, but this has much more of a homely feel.

Yeah, it's been really nice.

So long as we can cope with it, we'll stay here.

But there may come a day when we find getting upstairs to bed

a bit more difficult than we do at the moment.

If Lord and Lady Forbes ever do put their castle on the market,

they probably won't have trouble selling.

Luxury Scottish property is booming.

Wealthy buyers from around the world are drawn to Scotland's romantic history.

They also see it as a safe investment.

In London, fashion designer, former Versace model

and Russian princess, Olga Roh, is showing her latest collection.

Thank you very much.

# From Russia with love

# I fly to you... #

'Olga has always been a fan of Scottish style and fabrics,

'and she often incorporates Scottish elements into her collections.'

Some like it hot! Like Marilyn Monroe.

# I've travelled the world... #

The colours, the combinations...

It's not directly Scotland, I would say, but you can make

your own Scotland out of real Scotland, and I made MY Scotland.

I feel very comfortable there.

It's a very fashionable place and very famous for tweeds.

Winter tweeds or very heavy tweeds, wonderful quality of cashmere.

Recently, Olga and her millionaire husband decided the time had

come to make a deeper connection to the land they loved.

So they bought a ruined castle in Aberdeenshire.

I was never expecting myself to go and buy a castle.

So it's my husband, of course, the brain behind the story.

He was always attracted by Scotland.

It was maybe a boy's dream.

It's like a love story. When you love somebody, it's the same.

You just start to love. Not because it belongs to you,

because I always say it doesn't belong to me,

a place never can belong to somebody, you belong to the place.

So I belong to castle now.

Olga's daughter Nicole is helping her to plan the renovation.

I could see myself...not living here,

but spending perhaps the milder months of the year here.

Somehow, in this house, I see every room becoming a comfortable

little sofa room, like a drawing room, with settees and fireplaces.

It's going to take a lot of work, but their vision of castle life is

spurring them on to create a living home out of this crumbling ruin.

Ah, this is definitely a grand room here.

It's got lovely high ceilings.

I suppose it could be a bedroom.

It's got nice views.

What's this room?

This is by far the dirtiest room of all.

It's been host to many pigeons, but they're going to get kicked out,

unfortunately, because we're moving in.

It's a panoramic view.

Castles like this one are perhaps Scotland's

most iconic type of house.

There's a more modest, but just as distinctive,

form of Scottish domestic architecture that's also

being revived for 21st-century living.

The tenement flat.

Tenements are a defining feature, not just of Glasgow,

but most of Scotland's cities.

They come in all shapes and sizes,

from modest flats to much grander properties

originally built for the more affluent end of the market.

Today, tenements like these are still highly prized

and they aren't just nice places to live.

If, like many Scots, you find yourself working from home,

you'll have plenty of space.

So, should you decide to start a business staging live gigs

for your own online TV channel,

you won't even need to leave the house.

Music promoter, Chae Houston, was brought up in this handsome

tenement flat in the West End of Glasgow.

Now his folks have flown the nest,

he shares his three-bedroom home with his brother

and fellow music aficionado, Jamie.

One day, preparing to shoot some videos for the bands

they were working with, the boys were stuck for a location.

We were just sitting around in this room.

We were looking at the bay window

and we though, it kind of looks like a wee stage.

Let's do maybe a gig in here.

We were like, "Oh, right, maybe we could film it".

And I thought, we'll just call it Tenement TV

and let's do a wee session, get a couple of bands up.

So we got a few up.

And so Chae's business, a music website based in his home, was born.

This song is called Getaway.

The website started to get a lot of views.

Started getting some touring bands. Lots of interest.

It's a great buzz having the sessions, parties here.

We've had quite a few influential people up here. Some massive bands.

And also just the kind of vibe of the whole flat.

It's a really old-school flat and when all the bands come up,

walk up the close, walk through into the big, kind of long hall,

they all go, "Wow."

These American bands that we've had up,

like Cage The Elephant and stuff,

they're like, "What an amazing place, man."

They've never seen places like this. Big flats with these big windows.

Since recording their first band five years ago,

Tenement TV has grown into Scotland's largest

online music platform,

with over three million hits since its launch.

Some of the bands who have played here

have gone on to have top-ten hits and even get to number one.

Everything that's happened has came from this flat.

Everything we've spoke about or tried to create has

happened in here, based around this in this building.

I think it's a very good hub for creatives to come in,

like-minded people to come and just work alongside us.

Today, the team is shooting a session with another

up-and-coming act from Glasgow.

These guys that are up today, Atom Tree,

they've just recently got signed to Morse Code Management, the guys

who used to look after Paolo Nutini and various acts like that.

They've got a couple of label interest,

agent interest at the moment.

Living room. It's where you guys can make some noise.

The guys have been about for a couple of years now and that's them

really starting to take off,

so it's great to see local bands kind of doing this kind of thing.

# You can fool me once

# You can blind me twice... #

I'd always kind of followed it on YouTube.

They do a lot of massive bands

and when he kind of asked us to do it, we were well up for it.

We thought it was definitely worth the trip home.

And the fact it's in a tenement, as well, it's cool, really cool.

# I don't care if I die when I'm this high... #

But there's always been one potential downside

to tenement living -

noisy neighbours.

So how have the other residents on the stair reacted to the racket?

We have had a few upset neighbours before, but it's nothing that...

You just explain the situation and then a week later

they find out they've had a number-one band

above their living room.

# All right. #

But living next to a TV studio isn't everyone's vision of an ideal home.

Trish and her husband Sandy are heading into Glasgow to see

how work on their new house is progressing.

Moving from the country to the city after more than 40 years

will be a big change for them.

But they have decided it's for the best.

It's the sensible thing to do.

There are closer access to facilities for shopping

and restaurants.

And as we get older, particularly in the wintertime,

the commute from Glasgow out to Killearn becomes more difficult.

I think we're both dubious about having neighbours

because we haven't had neighbours for so long and living so close.

Then again, it has its advantages.

Having neighbours if anything happens to any of us.

The new house is a Victorian terrace in the West End

which is currently being gutted

and remodelled to Trish's specifications.

Oh, dear. What have we done?

SHE LAUGHS

That in there is the kitchen.

This used to be the dining room.

Decided to obviously make it...

We like open-plan living.

..open-plan living.

So this is, in fact, one of the smaller houses

in this area of Glasgow.

Other ones are four storeys and they were built with families

and substantial staff in mind.

So we're trying to bring them up to the 21st century.

Hi. Hello! Hi, hi, hi.

Interior designer, Margo, hasn't seen inside the house

since work started.

Amazing. I know. Golly, what a difference.

It's gone through a big transformation.

With construction work well underway,

this is starting to resemble the home Trish and Margo have designed.

This is going to be my gym.

I'm going to pop my weight machine there

and then my...

All my other equipment here.

That's my garden room.

That's all obviously coming out because that's the dumbwaiter

and I'll get a different worktop.

It won't be long before Trish can start filling it with

the objects that are so close to her heart.

I had to get one of each of my children!

THEY LAUGH Otherwise I'll forget!

Obviously, this shelving are not going to be...

No, I don't think so. You like to be different. It has to be a bit asymmetric.

Because I don't like everything in a straight line. You don't, no.

But you do have, you've got a lot of photographs,

but you've also got a lot of other objects

that you want to incorporate into this room, yeah? Mm-hm.

So, yeah, I think that would work really well in here.

Do you think you'll talk Sandy into it? To enjoying it?

I'm sure I will.

But, you know, if he doesn't come, I'll be here.

I'm sure he will.

Men don't like moving. Men don't like change.

For one other lady, the hassle of moving is finally over.

Peggy's modular house is finished and she has a new home of her own.

What are you making of it?

How are you finding it since you're moved in, then?

Oh, especially since I've moved in here, lovely.

Definitely. There's nothing like your own place, is there?

I would've liked to have stayed where I was,

but it was impossible.

I couldn't. No way.

But that's all part of it, isn't it?

We all get old, I'm afraid.

For Peggy's son, Robin,

the new ready-built house has proved the ideal solution for her and him.

Mum's always been independent, really independent,

and it was quite difficult to get her out of where she was before.

Now she's in the house, I think she realises just how great it is

and she's now beginning to comment on how friendly everyone is

and how beautiful the area is, so I think she's seeing the benefit.

She can get on with her life without interference with us,

apart from when she really needs it.

You know, they show you all these plans.

And you think, "Oh, yeah. Looks all right, yeah."

Until you actually see it like it is now,

you realise how nice it is.

It's nice to have the two bedrooms.

You could have a studio flat, a one bedroom,

but I'm glad I went for the two.

The idea is my friends will come by.

A studio place would be so small, whereas, you know, this is perfect.

And when you're living in it day-to-day

and waking up and seeing the nice view out of your...

Oh, it's lovely. Lovely!

Seeing the birds flying around.

I can't wait to leave the door open a bit.

But it's too cold at the moment.

I want a nice, bold stripe.

Lace, lace, lace...

Oh, the haberdashery is amazing.