The gift also includes a £1 million cash donation.

The Armitage family purchased Ardoch Estate in West Dunbartonshire in 2006 when Mr Armitage retired from his career in finance. The family then set up the Ardoh Foundation as a social enterprise, aimed at helping children’s charities.

Ardoch estate has a view over Loch Lomond, with a conference centre and event space. The house and adjoining cottage have 18 bedrooms between them with a reception space, meeting rooms and a café area with modern catering facilities.

Describing the gift as “an unbelievable stroke of good fortune”, CHAS said that it was approached by Mr Armitage 15 months ago.

In its announcement of the gift, CHAS wrote: “In so many ways, Ardoch is perfect for CHAS: to help us support more families in new and diverse ways and to begin to realise our ambition to create a centre of excellence for palliative care services.”

The charity has said that the handover will happen later in 2020 after a built-in transition period of 15 months. CHAS will then take over the estate’s operation in July 2021.