THE TANTAH STORY

Tantah House 

Tantah House was built in 1884 by James Inglis of Peebles. It is an imposing 3 story Victorian villa & was originally a small self-contained estate with staff accommodation, a lodge house, a walled garden, paddocks & an imposing long driveway.

The estate has long since been broken up, Tantah House itself was split into two flats in 1949. Despite this, the house & neighbourhood, remain unspoilt & Tantah retains much of it’s original character and has been listed as being of Regional Importance by Historic Scotland.

Tantah is named after a town in  the Nile Delta in Egypt. Mr Inglis was a Victiorian entrepreneur who went out to Egypt as a young man, settled in the town of Tantah, where cotton was grown and introduced machinery for cleaning the cotton boll, thereby probably making a fortune. This was at the time of the American Civil War which created a world shortage of cotton. He was able to retire at a relatively young age and returned to Peebles to build this house, which he named Tantah. His eldest son - also James - continued the cotton business, but died in Egypt from TB. James Snr dedicated a set of stained glass windows in Peebles Parish Church to his sons & these can still be seen there today. The last relative of James Inglis to occupy the Tantah died in 1961.

Mike & Les Cashin have lived at Tantah House Top since 1994 & over the years they have raised their own two sons, and over 100 foster children in the house.  Tantah Croft was originally built as an annex to help their older foster children me on to independent living, but as the needs of foster care evolved, that vision was no longer viable & Mike & Les decided to create their ultimate eco-home.  At some point it will become Mike & Les’ home, but in the meantime it needs to earn its keep.

Tantah Croft 

The design of Tantah Croft was always going to be tough. Les felt she had 2 choices; either go whole hog, build a whinstone, Victorian Gothic cottage in the style of Tantah House or build something completely different. She opted for the latter & chose a design that nestles in the natural landscape, contrasting with & complimenting Tantah's aged grandeur.

Tantah Croft was built on the site of some derelict outbuildings & was designed by Chris Morgan from Locate Architects, one of the UK’s leading eco-architects. Click here to see what Chris has to say about Tantah Croft and, if you’re really technically-minded, you can download at an overview of the design & technical spec  here.