Controversial Stagecoach billionaire Dame Ann Gloag has put one of her 26-bed Highland castles up for sale for £7.5m – less than six months after she was charged with human trafficking offences.
Dame Ann, who grew up in a council house before she became one of Scotland’s richest women after setting up her transport company, bought the ancestral home of the Lovat family in Inverness-shire as a private residence for around £1.3 million in 1994.
Although it is understood that the bus conductor’s daughter-turned transport tycoon has been discreetly seeking a buyer for the 26-bedroom property for several years, it has now been publicly listed on property website Rightmove.
The advert does not name the Beauly estate, and shows only a picture of the interior, with a suit of knight’s armour in the foreground, as a reference. It is described as a castle ‘in the Highlands’ with 127 acres of associated woodland, pasture and arable land.
It comes after the Scottish Daily Mail exclusively revealed she had been charged with human trafficking offences in January. She ‘strongly disputes’ the allegations.
The property, which dates back to the 11th century, comes complete with six reception rooms, and boasts its own chapel with an organ and a biomass heating system
The advert does not name the Beauly estate, and shows only a picture of the interior, with a suit of knight’s armour in the foreground, as a reference
Dame Ann (pictured) has also attracted controversy with the building of an outdoor centre near her Perthshire estate Glassingall House
The property, which dates back to the 11th century, comes complete with six reception rooms, and boasts its own chapel with an organ and a biomass heating system.
It also comes with six residential cottages with additional land available for ‘further potential residential and recreational development opportunities’.
Dame Ann, 80, has already gained permission to transform part of the estate into a glamping holiday resort.
A spokesperson for Dame Ann confirmed the castle was being advertised but declined to comment further.
Dame Ann has also owned Kingauns Castle near her birthplace of Perth since 2004, where locals were outraged by her attempting to bar the public’s right to roam in woodland in the grounds in court.
She has also attracted controversy with the building of an outdoor centre near her Perthshire estate Glassingall House. The original 18th century property, now demolished, was famous as the ‘House of the Shaws’ in Robert Louis Stevenson’s story Kidnapped.
Police continue to investigate Dame Ann’s alleged involvement in human trafficking and immigration offences. A number of those who have accused her and her family claim to have stayed at Kingauns Castle.
At the time, Police Scotland said in a statement: ‘On 19 January 19, 2023, four individuals were charged in connection with an investigation into alleged human trafficking and immigration offences. A report will be sent to the Procurator Fiscal.’
It also comes with six residential cottages with additional land available for ‘further potential residential and recreational development opportunities’
Police continue to investigate Dame Ann’s alleged involvement in human trafficking and immigration offences. A number of those who have accused her and her family claim to have stayed at Kingauns Castle
Dame Ann has strongly disputed the ‘malicious allegations made against her, her foundation and members of her family’.
A spokesman for Dame Ann said at the time: ‘Whilst we cannot comment on the details of an ongoing investigation, Dame Ann strongly disputes the malicious allegations that have been made against her, her foundation and members of her family, and will vigorously defend herself and the work of her foundation to protect her legacy and continue her work helping thousands of people in the UK and abroad every year.’
Before her business career, Dame Ann worked as a unit sister in Bridge of Earn Hospital, Perthshire, where she met her future husband, Robin Gloag, while he was a patient.
By the 1970s, the couple were running a small caravan sales business but, after 20 years in nursing, Dame Ann Gloag branched out. The couple, along with Mrs Gloag’s brother, Sir Brian Souter, bought a bus for £425.
Their intention was to take the trip of a lifetime to China but the plan failed through visa problems. Instead, the entrepreneurs were invited by a construction company to provide transport for workers travelling to building sites.
The brother and sister realised the potential and with their savings and their father’s timely redundancy payment of £25,000, they bought two more buses.
Stagecoach expanded from its limited Perthshire routes to offering cheap tickets between Dundee and London.
The venture took off and Stagecoach Group is now an international company operating buses, trains, trams and ferries.
Dame Ann has focused on her charitable endeavours since stepping down as an executive director at Stagecoach since May 2000.
The Gloag Foundation supports ‘projects that prevent or relieve poverty and encourage the advancement of education, health and religion in the UK and overseas’.
She founded Freedom From Fistula in 2008 and expanded the charity to help more than 20,000 women and children across Africa.
The charity is dedicated to helping women and girls who are injured and left incontinent following prolonged, obstructed childbirth.
Dame Ann previously helped establish a hospital in Malawi and also founded Kenya Children’s Homes in 2002 which now educates and cares for more than 1,500 children every year in Kenya.
In 2019, she was awarded the honour of Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire by the Queen, in recognition of her business and charitable endeavours.
More recently, she has been involved with helping victims of human trafficking in Romania and assisting those displaced by the war in Ukraine.
