The search for Project Argyll’s home is focused on the western Highlands, where woodland, water, landscape, and relative accessibility can come together at the scale the project requires. The right property must be beautiful, but beauty alone is not enough.
We are assessing working estates rather than conventional housing sites. The current brief looks for approximately 150 acres or more, with substantial woodland, access to a loch, river, or coast, and a realistic journey of roughly two to three hours from an international airport. These are not decorative preferences. They determine whether the community can protect a meaningful shared landscape, create private plots without overcrowding, and support practical infrastructure over time.
Every candidate must be considered as a whole system. Topography, water, forestry, access, existing buildings, planning constraints, utilities, environmental designations, neighbouring communities, and purchase terms all affect whether an estate can work. A dramatic property may fail because its access is too fragile, its developable ground too limited, or its infrastructure disproportionately expensive. A less obvious candidate may offer stronger long-term possibilities.
The map records an active process of comparison, visits, and due diligence. It is not a promise that any marked location will be purchased. Sites will move onto and off the list as more information becomes available. That discipline matters. Enthusiasm for one view or building must not obscure the costs, obligations, and relationships that come with the whole estate.
Before committing to land, professional advisers will need to test title, valuation, boundaries, planning prospects, environmental duties, existing leases, access rights, buildings, services, and the legal structure through which members’ interests will be protected. The founding group will also need enough information to understand the choices and the risks rather than being asked to rely on optimism.
We are also looking beyond the estate boundary. Project Argyll should have a constructive relationship with neighbouring communities, local government, suppliers, and land managers. It must add long-term care, activity, and resilience rather than behave as an isolated enclave.
The objective is not simply to find a dramatic view. It is to find a place capable of supporting private homes, shared stewardship, and a resilient community for generations. The search will take patience, but choosing carefully now is one of the highest-leverage decisions the project will make.