MILLIONAIRE Peter Armitage is giving something back to society with his Loch Lomond-based charitable foundation.

Yorkshire-born Armitage founded Ardoch, at Gartocharn, Dunbartonshire, with £7.5 million of his own cash.

After a career in investment management, he decided he had more money than he and his family could spend in all their lifetimes so he embarked on a mission to do his bit for charity.

For part of the year Ardoch's 18 bedrooms, restaurant and conference centre is used by corporate clients to host day and residential meetings, seminars and training events.

The money raised helps finance the centre's other use as a resource for, mostly child-focused, charities.

Peter, 64, said: "I'd worked in financial services all my life, so there was a strong urge to do something completely different."

Peter, who left school when he was 16 with no formal qualifications, went into the City in 1982, at the perfect moment to benefit from a financial boom which made him very wealthy.

With money in the bank, he went looking for a location where he could invest and make his dream a reality.

Norman Drummond, a friend and the founder of Columba 1400, a Scottish-based social enterprise, urged him to look at a property on Loch Lomondside.

He fell in love with Ardoch House and bought it in 2007.

He said: "The moment I saw Ardoch and its inspirational setting I knew I had found the right place."

Built around a traditional farmhouse and set in 133 acres, Ardoch operates as the Loch Lomond base for Columba 1400 and regularly provides respite care for some of the children the charity works with.

All the food served in the centre's restaurant is fresh and locally sourced and the building is powered by renewable energy.

The house also boasts its own trout pond and more than 1000 trees have been planted on the estate.

Through Ardoch, Peter has had the opportunity of meeting a range of interesting people, including The Princess Royal, patron of Columba 1400, who attended Ardoch's official opening.

His aim is to grow the business to an annual turnover of £400,000 and to give increasingly favourable terms to charities that work with young people at Ardoch.

Visit www.ardoch-scotland.com to find out more.

stef.lach@ heraldandtimes.co.uk