Many of the specifications are unusual, from the hanging wooden staircase that leads to the upper floors to the moulded fireplaces, which are different in each room.

All the windows, which frame wonderful views of the rolling countryside, have been designed to different dimensions, and original storage space and cubby holes — created long before anyone had dreamt up the term “fitted wardrobes” — add character. The original features, such as the flooring, wood panelling, the huge turn-of-the-century enamel baths and servants’ bells, are beautifully preserved.

At first there seem to be remarkably few mementos of Grant’s work, but on reaching the stairs that lead to the third floor, the mood changes.

The walls are crammed with framed comic-book drawings, and once upstairs, the hallway has the feel of a comic-book hangout, complete with comfy couch and a life-size figure of Judge Dredd.

Most authentic of all, for Batman fans, is the wildlife. “We quite often have bats flying around in here,” says Sue, a freelance designer who also has her office on the floor. “I have to put little stickers across my computer hard-drive slot to make sure that they don’t get in. We do have a net to catch them and throw them out, but they always just come back in again.”

Bats aside, both view it as the perfect place to get down to work. “I find it easy to concentrate here,” says Grant. “Of course, there are a few distractions — when you know everyone in the village you can easily pop over for a coffee. But mostly it’s not an issue.”

Work is something there’s certainly no shortage of. Grant started his career at DC Thompson before becoming a successful romantic-fiction writer. At 28 he was looking for a way back into the comic world when an old friend, John Wagner, asked for help fulfilling commitments he had taken on for a new British comic, 2000 AD, launched in 1977. It kick-started a long-term partnership and the pair wrote storylines for IPC, DC and Marvel comics for more than a decade. In 1989, following the release of Tim Burton’s Batman film, Grant’s salary increased fivefold, and he has never looked back.

Other film and television adaptations followed and, now in his mid-fifties, Grant continues to write established strips such as Batman, The Bogie Man and anti-hero Lobo, as well as creating new characters, such as the Scottish teenage mutant Middenface McNulty for 2000AD.

He has just finished a graphic adaptation of Robert Louis Stevenson’s Kidnapped, which will be launched in February. The book is a retelling of Stevenson’s Scottish adventure story with artwork by Cam Kennedy, and will be made available to schools around the country.

The adaptation was strangely appropriate. Glencairn Balfour Paul, the grandson of the Lyon King of Scotland and direct descendant of Stevenson himself, was born in the house in which Grant worked on his version of Kidnapped.

Balfour Paul’s literary ancestor named the hero of Kidnapped, David Balfour, after his maternal bloodline. However, Balfour Paul, a former ambassador — who has visited the Grants regularly since they moved in — is not a fan of the house. “The first two chapters of Balfour Paul’s autobiography are about this house and he refers to it as “damp and chilly”, chuckles Grant. “He came here a couple of months ago to give us a copy of the book and told us quite cheerfully that he didn’t like it at all.”

Grant enjoys the connection to Scottish history that the house provides, although it is one of the most modern properties the couple have ever lived in.

They bought their first country home with the understanding it had been built in the 13th century. Archeologists later discovered a hidden stair behind the kitchen wall that dated it back a further 100 years.

They then moved to a 14th-century coach house before discovering the piece de resistance — a 12th-century Norman church. When plague struck in the village, all the buildings bar the church were burnt down, and the village was rebuilt a mile away. “It was fantastic,” says Grant. “If it had been possible we would have shipped it up here.” It also turned out to have a more colourful history than they initially realised. Another visiting archeologist discovered not only the remains of a 6th-century chapel that formerly stood on the site, but also evidence of a Roman villa.

The church even had its own ghost, a hooded monk that the couple suggests regularly made its presence felt. “We saw it quite often, but it never bothered us,” says Grant casually. “It had quite a good feeling to it. It didn’t spook us.”

There are rumours that their Moniaive home is also haunted. Local builders claim that when they were in the vast basement billiard room, the balls started moving about on the table on their own.

“We’ve not seen anything at all,” shrugs Sue. “When I was decorating one of the bedrooms, I moved the wardrobe and found someone had written: “Do not sleep here. It’s haunted.” I now make a point of putting as many guests in there as possible, but nobody has ever complained.”

Both agree it’s a place where they feel supremely comfortable. To Sue, an army child who spent her life “in houses like identical little boxes that were always the same colour, no matter what country you were in”, there’s a joy in big creaky houses like this, where she can make her mark with bright colours and sturdy antique furniture.

She even helps to welcome others to the area, renting out the converted outbuildings in the grounds as holiday cottages.

And for Grant, it has become the place he hardly ever leaves. “I used to go travelling across America at the drop of a hat,” he smiles. “Now I’m quite happy to keep my exploring to climbing a hill nearby. I’ve got everything I need right here.”

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