From the window of the squat stone cottage the scene is bucolic. Under a perfect blue sky are rolling green hills in the distance, a long line of veteran trees in the foreground and, with perfect timing, a young deer bounds into vision.
Look closely and you’ll spot pheasants.
This is the setting for King Charles’s royal model village Knockroon, a tiny community of traditionally built properties, and it is so perfectly bonny it feels almost staged.
A winding path by a river at the rear of the community takes walkers and cyclists to the nearby Dumfries House estate, to which the village is connected.
Conversely, the path occasionally brought the King from his house, a Palladian mansion, to Knockroon. Although he hasn’t been spotted since becoming monarch, the then-Prince Charles was a familiar sight wandering through the development.
As an original resident of the East Ayrshire community, Ann Farrell became used to seeing the King, but the unannounced nature of his visits was not always welcome.
Farrell was first alerted to Charles’s presence by her daughter, who was breastfeeding her newborn at the time, calling for her mother to bring her lipstick.
She had glanced out the window to see the royal striding past, inspecting the progress of his new town, and was emphatically not ready for visitors.
“Oh yes,” says Farrell, “Charles is a familiar sight. He likes to walk in the woods back there and he’ll stop to chat. It used to be strange but we’re used to it now.”
Farrell, 62, and her husband Ian, 66, downsized from their five bedroom family home to a smaller property in Knockroon ten years ago.
Ian and Ann Farrell have lived in Knockroon since 2015
ROBERT PERRY FOR THE TIMES
The couple, who married when she was 18, were looking for somewhere in East Ayrshire to live that had good amenities and a community feel for what would be their fourth “and final” home.
They love their three-bedroom house and the area, although it is not what they bought into. Knockroon should have been a larger estate of almost 800 properties. However, there are only 31 homes here, which some may find suffocating.
“Do you ken,” Farrell says, “Everybody kens you.”
Construction on the pioneering eco-village began in 2011.
Planning permission in principle was granted for 770 homes on land between the villages of Cumnock and Auchinleck.
The aim was to create a new model of housebuilding and living, using traditional crafts to create high-quality homes on a walkable design model now commonly referred to as “20-minute neighbourhoods”.
Full planning permission was granted for the first phase of 87 homes, 12 workshops, and four commercial spaces. The first turf was cut in 2011 but just 31 properties were created. Nothing more has been built since 2016.
The King’s Foundation, the charity that runs nearby Dumfries House, now says it is focused on building 370 properties on the site and aims to have construction under way in the next three to four years.
Gordon Neil, executive director for the King’s Foundation
ROBERT PERRY FOR THE TIMES
Gordon Neil, executive director of the King’s Foundation, said: “The markets have changed hugely, even between 2008 and 2012 when we started the initial build, the market changed with the recession. So we started looking at this area more broadly and saying, land is not a premium in terms of cost, we should be looking at spreading out this development and giving people more outdoor space within their private dwellings.”
The smallness of the community is perfect for Thomas Breckney and his two teenage daughters.
When they moved from Portsmouth to Scotland, Breckney, as a single father, had the safety and security of his girls foremost in his mind.
He was so keen to live in Knockroon that he bought a two bedroom flat. His 17-year-old and 13-year-old girls had a bedroom each while he slept on the sofa.
Just last week the family moved to a three-bedroom house one street over. Is he enjoying his new property so far? “My back is better already,” he says.
Thomas Breckney is enjoying having enough bedrooms in his new home
ROBERT PERRY FOR THE TIMES
Breckney enjoys the security of the village and knows that if he’s ever late home from work his daughters will be under someone’s watchful eye.
They go into Glasgow once or twice a month to experience the city but he prefers the village feel of Knockroon, where the streets have enigmatic names such as The Kirk’s Alarm and Darsie Brae.
While there is the promise of 370 new homes, Breckney, who works for a charity, is unphased.
“We have built a solid community here and I know that will extend as the village grows,” he said.
The model at Knockroon is cited by Scotland’s former chief planner as being the forerunner of award-winning and market-leading developments at Tornagrain, near Inverness, and Longniddry, outside Edinburgh.
Jim Mackinnon was the Scottish government’s former chief planner and director for the built environment, who led the Scottish Sustainable Communities initiative, which promotes placemaking rather than just housebuilding.
“Knockroon is a sensitive development that conveys a sense of place rather than just a continuation of endless suburban development,” he said.
So far, Knockroon has a café and a dental surgery but it is hoped more businesses will open up.
The village was an early flag bearer for Scotland’s charrette movement, where members of a community are involved in planning.
The properties take longer to build as they use traditional construction methods: stone facades are used around windows and doors, there are no timber frames.
New residents sign up to strict standards. One couple asked to repaint the outside of their house a different colour. “We told them no,” Neil said.
Stuart and Kirsty Banks, Gabby the pug and Milo the Cavalier King Charles spaniel moved in three years ago
ROBERT PERRY FOR THE TIMES
Stuart Banks, 35, and his wife Kirsty, 34, have been married for 11 months and this is their first home together as husband and wife.
The couple, who live with Gabby the pug and Milo, a Cavalier King Charles spaniel, are firmly on board with the standards expected of Knockroon’s residents.
Banks is more obliged than the average local — he is the King’s butler when the monarch is in residence at Dumfries House.
Banks grew up in nearby Kilmarnock and struggled with long-term unemployment. When he did find a job, he would quickly become bored and leave after a few months. But then a job centre coach recommended a five-week training course in hospitality and it changed his life.
“I had setbacks in my life and things were hard,” he said, “But at Dumfries House it was the first time I felt that people had my best interests at heart and they were telling me to better myself.”
Now Banks has a job he loves and has fully embraced the Dumfries House model by moving to Knockroon. “We both love this house. And it’s got room to grow into — I’m hoping my games room will soon have a cot,” he added.