Davaar Island | Unique Property Club

Davaar Island Happiness: What Price?

The original 1984 lease at £5 a year for the ruinous Old Lookout Coastguard Station included a caveat to make the building “wind and watertight.” A good crew of friends helped and the cost was several dinners’ at Mota Singh’s wonderful restaurant by Campbeltown Harbour. The materials were recycled coastguard fitting where possible and that total was easy to remember (birth year) ~ £1,959.

9 years at £5 = £45. Plus £1,959 = £2,004.

The Old Lookout building became habitable in May 1985. There were, in total, 9 wonderful years here…

^^ Davaar Island, Kintyre, Argyll ^^ 
^^ Photo By Paul White. Alamy Fee Paid: Here.

On reflection, 40 years’ later in December 2025, Russ was asked about the best place to live in terms of unique property. He replied…

“The happiest place amongst many remarkable homes to lay your head was, without doubt, the Old Lookout on Davaar Island.”

When pressed by a family member on why this was so, Russ McLean went on…

“The island had a calm about it. Perhaps because it was off-grid and there were no bills to worry about. Plenty to do. For example, on the beach… tidying away old washed-up pallets etc., to keep the wood-burner fed and house warm.

But the island was also a peaceful sanctuary to gather your thoughts; to get your head straight.

Don’t forget, the mainland job was uncannily like Robert Carlyle’ television police drama series called Hamish MacBeth. Though in the real world there were heavy stresses in that job.

So the island was best medicine for the worst of what a cop sees in real life.“

What newer reader of Unique Property Bulletin may not know, is that this publication was born on Davaar Island.

Mainly due to what happens when you have no mortgage nor rent to pay! Our book-keeper worked out in today’s terms (2025) the rental savings added up to…

£52,335

That was certainly enough to pay for this obscure publication to get started.

It was also enough to put down a deposit on a home in London. A few years later, with London house price inflation, a much larger sum was realised when that home in London was sold.

The majority of those funds (several times the original £50,000 London house deposit) came back “up north” ~ 461 miles to be precise…

^^ London Is An Awesome Place To Live & Work ^^
^^ But Once An Islander! ^^
The call of Ailsa Craig Island "Up North" 
Near To Davaar Island Gave The Next Adventure.

… the book-keeper has looked at what Russ McLean and this eccentric Unique Property Bulletin ~ along with associate projects have managed during the past four decades.

For a police officer who had become disabled at work (resulting in spinal surgery) and told by a blunt Human Resources staff member at police headquarters in Pitt Street, Glasgow that he was “no longer fit to be a policeman” indeed, virtually unemployable and to “go enjoy handsome disability benefits” – this was a devastating blow.

There is a word in Scots known as “thrawn” meaning stubborn. Back in the 1980s and 1990s McLean was determined to prove that it was possible to lead a productive life and not be a drain on state benefits. This is covered at our Unique Property Business Angel Group Ltd., website. Kindly, the book-keeper worked out that according to her calculations, 203 jobs were created from the original £52,335 and subsequent selling of his London home.

One of our shareholders said in a salty phrased remark that was much appreciated and may yet be inscribed on a certain big stone along at Sannox Cemetery: “None too shabby a result for a stubborn knackered old cop.”

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Coming Soon On

Unique Property Club News

The thing is, Unique Property Bulletin started on an island in an old ruin of a coastguard station.

How £5 Became

£2,053,838

By Accident!

Here is where we began…

^^ The Old Coastguard Station During Renovation ^^

^^ Leased For Just £5 (Five Pounds) Per Year ^^

Full details of that catalyst of an adventure and another 80 projects during the 40 years between 1985 and 2025 will be added to this site in due course.

With a little help from some friends!

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^^ Old Wrecks of Buildings ^^
^^ Can & Do Heal The Most Bruised of Human Beings  ^^
^^ Fame Really Is A Cruel Master ^^

^^ A Place of Many Happy Memories ^^
^^ Sadly, After Linda McCartney Died In 1998 ^^
^^ The Memories Appear To Be Hard ^^
^^ For Regular Visits By Sir Paul & The Family ^^

^^ Davaar Island In The Background ^^

^^ Photo Attribution: Lady Linda McCartney ^^

Here is Davaar Island from a different perspective…

^^ Davaar Island, Kintyre, Argyll ^^
^^ Photo By Simon Butterworth. Alamy Fee Paid: Here.

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^^ The Old Lookout On Davaar Island ^^

Here is the renovated building on Davaar Island in Kintyre (the “Mull of Kintyre” is just around the corner!