Trumland could have had brighter future
says potential buyer
(From The Orcadian, May 18, 2000)

A Lincolnshire businesswoman who fell in love with Trumland House, Rousay, and hoped to return it to its former glory has had to ditch her plans after repeated attempts to buy the house failed.

The B-listed house which is now open to the elements and heading towards dereliction was featured in The Orcadian last week.

But it could have had a brighter future according to Mrs Elaine Gregg, who runs a bus and coach company in Lincolnshire.

After reading last week’s article Mrs Gregg contacted The Orcadian this week and spoke of her plans for the house, which she has been trying to purchase for the past eight years.

The current owner, Dr Colin Norton, whose last known address was in Dornoch, has had a repairs notice served on him by the council, but he has not responded. The house was built in the 1870s for Lieutenant General Frederick William Traill Burroughs and was once decked out with fine furniture and fittings.

Mrs Gregg wanted to buy the house in the early 1990s but she said Dr Norton beat her to the sale by two hours. She already owns the lodge at Trumland and after attempts to purchase the house, she said she had now given up.

“After all these years we have drawn a line under it. Unfortunately, down in Lincolnshire we have had to buy something else. It has been a magnet to me for years.”

She continued: “It is quite a sad situation. We have been interested since Mr Norton bought it. We missed it by a couple of hours. We can’t buy now because we have bought somewhere else in January this year.”

Mrs Gregg said she did have plans to restore the house and open it up the public, turning part of it into a museum.

“We would have opened it to the public and would have put the gardens back to what they would have been, but now it is all to no avail,” she said. “It would have been something. It would have been looked after.”

Although her plans to buy the house have been dropped, Mrs Gregg said she was hoping to set up a trust fund, in case the house was put up for sale in the future.

“I am taking advice from an acquaintance of mine who has put together a trust fund for another house,” she said.

“I just feel it is very sad and if I have not been able to rescue it one way I shall do my best to prompt it another way. There must be someone somewhere. It is the sort of place that you either love or loathe and unfortunately for me I love it.”