TO the casual observer it looks like many of the lovely lochside cottages that are such a feature of Argyll, but the property known as Seacliffe on the shores of Loch Fyne is fast becoming a powerhouse for democracy.
Just outside the small village of Strachur on the A886 loch-side road, Seacliffe now has a dual identity – it is a holiday cottage known as the Bruce Arms, but also has another guise as Democracy House, brainchild of the owner Susan Garde Pettie and her father Bruce.
Available for let as a holiday cottage, the Bruce Arms becomes Democracy House when people use it as a base for talking, writing and formulating ideas that might, just might, change the world for the better.
The cottage belonged to Susan’s late father Bruce Garde Pettie, and when he was dying of cancer in 2013, he extracted the promised that Seacliffe would be “put to good use in supporting democratic innovation and creating a world that works for us all,” as his daughter states.
The house has been spruced up, and now houses Bruce Garde Pettie’s art collection and a library of his books. Literally anyone can apply to use Democracy House for purposes aimed at democratic innovation.
Susan Garde Pettie explained: “As Bruce Arms, Seacliffe covers her costs for the year with commercial lets. The weeks we have left are offered to people who apply with world-changing ideas and the need for space to brainstorm.”
The house can sleep up to 15 and has stunning views across Loch Fyne – Seacliffe has its own jetty – while all around are hills in a landscape known to attract climbers, hillwalkers and mountain bikers by the thousand.
Susan said: “Bruce bought the house in 2003 and we discovered that he had a brain tumour in January, 2013, and then we went on a quite amazing journey after that until he died on September 21, 2013. We were thinking of what his legacy could be as a lifelong lover of democracy and independent thought.
“His illness coincided with me setting up So Say Scotland, which imagined Scotland as a hub of democratic innovation, so we decided to put his books and art collections there and create Democracy House.
“We found the old pub sign for the Bruce Arms and that gave us a name and a theme to develop the house for commercial lets.
“This house really loves to have groups and there were always big discussions here when Bruce was hosting his legendary parties, so I see what’s happening now as an extension of that.”
Susan said they started working on the concept after Bruce died in 2013, and launched Democracy House on September 21, 2014 – to coincide with the International Day of Peace. Democracy is essential if we are going to achieve peace on this planet, she explains to us.
“We worked on the house to build up the commercial letting side, and we have been slowly building up the Democracy House aspect - we ask people just to pay for the housekeeping and logs for the fire.”
Susan Garde Pettie is also happy to barter items for the use of Democracy House, but one thing is not for sale – the principles of democracy that drive it.
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