Dig Deeper Blog

We recently told our personal Farmstay story at the GAN conference in Scotland and along the way we experienced Scottish farms big and small telling theirs. It was a
brilliant experience.

From the 10,000 acre Finzean Estate that has been in the same family for over 400 years to the 100-acre sheep farm that overnight changed the trajectory of an urban family to rural shepherds and farm stay hosts, the message was the same. Agritourism is one of the best strategies to protect farmers and their farmland. True in Scotland; true
around the world.

The coast city of Aberdeen was the main setting for the conference and ScottishAgritourism made sure we had a chance to see farms from the coastal areas of Aberdeenshire and Moray Speyside up into the Scottish Highlands of Royal Deeside.

We learned that the Black Angus cow is from this area. Many of the livestock farms run both sheep and cattle. Farm stores dot the country roads, and we aren’t talking little stands but full-fledged shops carrying products from the farm and its neighbors with parking lots and all. There were u-pick berry farms, fiber farms with mohair goats, even farms with their own lines of whiskey. Who knew there were over 150 whiskey distilleries just in Scotland!

And while the Scots drank all the beer in Boston during the World Cup and regaled fans wherever they went in the U.S., we were welcomed with bag pipes and learned (or tried to learn) the ceilidh dance (pronounced kay-lee). All in good spirits. Challenged to show up in traditional dress, many of the conference attendees wore kilts for the occasion. 

It might be my Scottish heritage, or my love of their music, but the song Caledonia certainly rings true as an anthem for the people. Take a listen sometime to one of their well-known and beloved musicians, Dougie McLean. It will take you to that place of misty mountains, dramatic isles, castles and kilts, if only in your mind.