Scottish Stagecoach billionaire Ann Gloag is set to add to her already considerable fortune after putting one of her two magnificent Highland castles up for sale.
Dame Ann – who grew up in a council house before becoming one of Scotland's richest women – is seeking offers over £7.5 million for Beaufort Castle in Inverness-shire.
The bus conductor’s daughter turned transport tycoon, whose current wealth is estimated at around £1billion, bought the ancestral home of the Lovat family as a private residence for around £1.3 million in 1994.
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Although it is understood she has been discreetly seeking a buyer for Beaufort for several years, she has now publicly listed it on property website Rightmove.
The advert does not name the Beauly estate and only shows a picture of the interior, with a suit of knight’s armour in the foreground.
It’s simply described as a castle 'in the Highlands' with 127 acres of associated woodland, pasture and arable land.
However, the property website gives a strong hint by telling interested parties they should contact the selling agents quoting the reference ‘Beauly’.
The 26-bedroom main property which dates back to the 11th century, has six reception rooms and boasts a chapel with an organ and a biomass heating system.
The sale also includes six residential cottages with additional land available for “further potential residential and recreational development opportunities”.
She has already gained permission to transform pat of the historic castle estate into a resort for ‘glamping’holidays.
Dame Ann has also owned Kinfauns Castle near Perth since 2004, where she has angered locals by going to court to bar the public’s right to roam in woodland in the grounds.
Dame Ann is also building an outdoor centre near her Perthshire estate Glassingall House - which has attracted controversy.
The original 18 th century property, now demolished, was famous as the 'House of Shaws' in Robert Louis Stevenson's story Kidnapped.
The latest initiative to market Beaufort comes as police continue their investigations into the millionaire and philanthropist’s alleged involvement in human trafficking and immigration offences.
A number of those who have accused Dame Ann and her family claimed to have stayed at her home at Kinfauns Castle, it has emerged.
In January, the 80-year-old was questioned, as was her husband David McCleary, 72, her 47-year-old stepdaughter Sarah Gloag and her son-in-law Paul McNeil, 52, after they voluntarily met police.
No arrests were made, but a Police Scotland spokesman said in a statement: “On 19 January 19, 2023, four individuals were charged in connection with an investigation into alleged human trafficking and immigration offences. A report will be sent to the Procurator Fiscal.”
At the time a spokesman for Dame Ann said she strongly disputed the “malicious allegations made against her, her foundation and members of her family” and would vigorously defend herself and the work of her foundation.
She and her younger brother, Brian Souter, co-founded Stagecoach in the early 1980s with just two second -hand buses, before growing the business into a global transport empire.
Dame Ann has concentrated on her philanthropic work since stepping down as the executive director of Stagecoach.
The grandmother used her fortune to establish The Gloag Foundation which supports 'projects that prevent or relieve poverty and encourage the advancement of education, health and religion in the UK and overseas'.
Most recently, she has been involved with helping victims of human trafficking in Romania and assisting those displaced by the war in Ukraine.
Her charities include Freedom From Fistula, which she founded in 2008, and now helps more than 20,000 women and children across Africa who have been injured during childbirth. She also established Kenya Children’s Homes in 2002 which now educates and cares for more than 1,500 children every year.
A spokesman for Dame Ann confirmed the castle was being advertised but declined to comment further.
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