Ardfin is a country estate on the island of Jura, Inner Hebrides,

Scotland Scotland (, ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a Anglo-Scottish border, border with England to the southeast ...

. It is situated at the southern tip of the island, between

Feolin Feolin (also known as Feolin Ferry) is a slipway on the west coast of Jura. provides a vehicle and passenger ferry service from Port Askaig on Islay across the Sound of Islay The Sound of Islay ( gd, Caol Ìle) is a narrow strait between th ...

and

Craighouse Craighouse ( gd, Taigh na Creige) is the main settlement and capital of the Scottish Inner Hebridean island of Jura, in Argyll and Bute. In 1971 it had a population of 113. The village is situated on the sheltered east coast of the island at t ...

. It includes Jura House which is a Category C listed building. The old house was extended by architect

William Burn William Burn (20 December 1789 – 15 February 1870) was a Scottish architect. He received major commissions from the age of 20 until his death at 81. He built in many styles and was a pioneer of the Scottish Baronial Revival,often referred ...

in 1838 for the laird Colin Campbell, with further extensions in 1878 by Alexander Ross and circa 1900 by Ronald Carswell. The next owners from 1938 were the Riley-Smith family, owners of

John Smith's Brewery John Smith's Brewery in Tadcaster, North Yorkshire, England, produces beers including John Smith's, the highest selling bitter in the United Kingdom since the mid-1990s. The majority of John Smith's sales are of the nitrogenated Extra Smooth ...

in Tadcaster,

North Yorkshire North Yorkshire is the largest ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county (lieutenancy area) in England, covering an area of . Around 40% of the county is covered by National parks of the United Kingdom, national parks, including most of ...

. The estate was sold in 2010 after the death of Tony Riley-Smith. The gardens are home to specimen plants from

Australasia Australasia is a region that comprises Australia, New Zealand and some neighbouring islands in the Pacific Ocean. The term is used in a number of different contexts, including geopolitically, physiogeographically, philologically, and ecologi ...

, which were held in high regard by horticulturalists. The estate also includes of coastline and seven islands over a total of . In November 2010, the Ardfin Estate was purchased by

Greg Coffey Greg Coffey is an Australian hedge fund manager based in London. Nicknamed "The Wizard of Oz" during his time at GLG Partners and Moore Capital Management, in 2012 he declared retirement at the age of 41 and returned to Sydney. In early 2018, C ...

, an Australian

hedge fund A hedge fund is a pooled investment fund that trades in relatively liquid assets and is able to make extensive use of more complex trading, portfolio-construction, and risk management techniques in an attempt to improve performance, such as s ...

manager. Jura House was doubled in size and clad in Portuguese limestone. Coffey closed the gardens to the public, and disposed of all livestock from the estate's working farm. The closure of the gardens aroused concern among island residents and visitors. In June 2012 it emerged that Coffey was planning a golf course on part of the estate. The course was completed and due to open in spring 2019, but the opening was delayed, and then delayed further by the

coronavirus pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identifie ...

in 2020. Elsewhere on the estate, the former farm buildings were converted into a luxury hotel for the use of visiting golfers. A review made this comment about the private course: "Ardfin is intended to be an ultra exclusive investment, which will appeal to the golfer with the means to play this logistically difficult, but beautiful course".

The KLF on the Ardfin Estate

On 23 August 1994, a disused boathouse on the Ardfin Estate was the location of

K Foundation Burn a Million Quid ''K Foundation Burn a Million Quid'' was a work of performance art executed on 23 August 1994 in which the K Foundation, an art duo consisting of Bill Drummond and Jimmy Cauty, burned £1 million (equivalent to £ million in ) in the back of a ...

, an event in which art group

K Foundation The K Foundation was an art foundation set up by Jimmy Cauty and Bill Drummond, formerly of The KLF, in 1993, following their 'retirement' from the music industry. The Foundation served as an artistic outlet for the duo's post-retirement KLF in ...

burned an alleged million pounds in cash that they had earned as pop duo

The KLF The KLF (also known as the Justified Ancients of Mu Mu, the JAMs, the Timelords and other names) are a British electronic band formed in London in 1987. Bill Drummond (alias King Boy D) and Jimmy Cauty (alias Rockman Rock) began by releasing ...

. The event was filmed, and was screened on Jura exactly a year after the burning.

References

{{Authority control Villages on Jura, Scotland Country houses in Argyll and Bute Highland Estates Hamlets in Argyll and Bute