WHY THE HUFF HOUSE?
The Huff House was purchased by us in September 2020 in the middle of COVID lockdown for the use of Lorraine's then pregnant Niece and partner to get them out of Glasgow and close to family.
Nine months and a new baby later the family moved back to Glasgow for employment reasons. Rather than sell the property, we started what would be a two year project renovating and reshaping a property which had for so long been neglected. I'm not sure why we decided to renovate the property. It must have been "a calling". The rationale was that it would become a holiday house for ourselves and for friends and family. The property has been furnished and equipped with this in mind.
The Huff House was originally named by our builder who, when hearing we were renovating a property 200 Metres from where we live – we have a lovely flat also in West Kilbride – asked if this was The Huff House, where one party went when in the huff with the other.
For a further year the cottage was going to be called Bumble Cottage as we had bumbled into it or Boyd Orr Cottage helping promote West Kilbride's heritage
However a sculpture – now the Huff House logo – spotted and purchased in La Gomera was the deciding factor for the name.
HUFF HOUSE HISTORY
From the records we have uncovered, the land at 117-119 Main St, West Kilbride was sold in 1731 with planning permission for two shops with two apartments above. At some later date the two apartments were knocked into one. By today's standards we have a modest two bedroom cottage yet we occupy the two original apartments.
Most of the town appear to have connections with the property and if not actually born there, then have lived in or visited friends there or have viewed with the intention of purchasing.
119 Main Street's and possibly the town's most famous resident is Lord John Boyd-Orr, whose father acquired one of the shops with one of the apartments above in 1885 when the family, with John aged 5, moved from Kilmaurs in East Ayrshire to West Kilbride in North Ayrshire.
JOHN BOYD ORR
1st Baron Boyd-Orr, CH, DSO, MC, FRS, FRSE (23 September 1880 – 25 June 1971), was a Scottish teacher, medical doctor, biologist, nutritional physiologist, politician, businessman and farmer who was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for his scientific research into nutrition and his work as the first Director-General of the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO).
He was the co-founder and the first President (1960–1971) of the World Academy of Art and Science (WAAS). In 1945, he was elected President of the National Peace Council and was President of the World Union of Peace Organisations and the World Movement for World Federal Government.
The major part of his upbringing took place in and around West Kilbride. He attended the village school until age nineteen, the last four years as a pupil-teacher. Religion was then an important part of junior education in Scotland, and the school gave him a good knowledge of the Bible, which stayed with him for the rest of his life.
When we commissioned a gate for the lane to the flat, the blacksmith who made the gate having been told the history of the building, researched Boyd-Orr and asked if he could put his own personal acknowledgement to the greatness of the man and embellished the gate with the shield which is the centrepiece of Lord John Boyd-Orr's Coat of Arms.
The public space and garden to the right of 119a Main Street is The Boyd-Orr Garden. It is together with the memorial in the garden adjacent to the Public Library, West Kilbride's acknowledgement of its most famous son.
A historic property, modern in design. The former home of West Kilbride's most famous resident.
ADDRESS
119a Main Street
West Kilbride
Scotland
KA23 9AR
EMAIL
hello@thehuffhouse.co.uk