News

A private jet has been converted into a £150-a-night short-term holiday let on an Angus farm.

Conservative councillor and farmer Iain Gall bought the Hawker 700 on ebay for £25,000 in 2022.

The 37-year-old estimates he has spent an additional £50,000 on the jet as he prepares to welcome his first guests.

Iain hoped to have the getaway up and running in 2023, but due to a busy period on the farm and other holiday accommodations to manage, the project was delayed.

He said: “We have the planning permission and now we are just waiting for the short-term let licence.

“We intended to open in 2023, but I ended up taking on some other houses, and the farm has been really busy; it is one of those things that has dragged on.

“The plane was already converted but we have had the cockpit walls wrapped in tweed.

“I wanted to keep the original interior with the captain’s chairs and the leather.

“The only thing is the cockpit where the tweed boards have been put in to make it feel more cosy.”

The jet sits on Iain’s family’s Glenskinno Farm, near Montrose.

The twin-engined British Aerospace aircraft was formerly owned by a Russian tycoon and featured on the TV show George Clarke’s Amazing Spaces as it was converted into a living space in 2020.

Iain says there was initially confusion with securing the short-term let licence due to the farm’s land ownership titles being old, however he expects it to be approved soon.

He added: “There has been a large amount of interest and people trying to book.

“I wanted to make sure it was ready.

“If you are in the plane, it is really nice, but it is quite small and difficult to stand up inside, so I decided to add a garden room.

“Even if it is a horrible day with the rain, guests can sit in there and look out on the countryside.

“It is all well and good for me to think it is a good idea, but how do you actually live there for a couple of nights?

“There was never a rush, it was always going to be ready when it was ready.”

This article appeared in The Courier on 9 June 2025