Rowan Doff works at Corrary Farm in Glen Beag on the Glenelg peninsula, which sits between Loch Alsh and Loch Hourn.
The farm is home to several nature-positive enterprises, including an organic vegetable farm and brewery that supplies the local community. The glen’s 2,000-year-old Pictish brochs, or ‘duns’, add further intrigue to the area, and lend the brewery its name.
The team at Corrary is actively supporting the expansion of native woodland cover in the glen, and runs a small on-site tree nursery. An Affric Highlands ‘early adopter’ featured in our new film, Rowan kindly took the time to tell us more about Corrary – and why the initiative’s collaborative approach can only be a good thing.
Why do you live in Affric Highlands?
I moved to Glenelg on Affric Highlands’ west coast two years ago, but I have been visiting the area my whole life and feel strongly connected to the landscape. This area has such a richness of history, wildlife, geology, incredible mountains and beautiful coastline.
Within the forestry and land sector there is a small but thriving community of people and businesses working in the region, and this brings with it opportunities for employment and growth. These industries are vital if we want to maintain a population in these rural places.
Indeed, one of the draws for moving here was the strong sense of community ‘togetherness’. Economically, it can be a difficult place to live, though I am fortunate to have found year-round employment at Corrary Farm.
Tell us more about Corrary Farm.
Corrary Farm is nestled in a small glen near the coastal village of Glenelg, at the western edge of the Affric Highlands initiative area. There are a range of small businesses run from the farm, including an organic microbrewery, holiday accommodation, forestry operations and a tree nursery.
We are also working to restore much of the land here towards a more natural condition. This restoration work takes many forms, including restoring former non-native plantation to native woodland, planting native trees to create new woodland, and reducing deer browsing pressure to let peatland habitats regenerate.
We are trying to achieve a balance of managing the land in a way that restores nature and creates resilient ecosystems, while at the same time supporting people to live and work here.
How will Affric Highlands benefit your livelihood?
Almost everything we are doing at Corrary will benefit from increased connectedness with neighbouring land managers, businesses and people working in the Affric Highlands landscape. It is impossible to achieve landscape-scale restoration by working in isolation, so I feel that working in partnership with our neighbours can only be a good thing.
What does rewilding mean to you?
I do worry about the way the word rewilding has been popularised in recent years as a blanket concept to describe all forms of landscape change. It refers to the process of allowing nature to recover by itself by restoring natural processes, but has more recently been seen by some as radical or exclusive. This can be divisive, especially when we are trying to build connections with more traditionally-minded neighbours. For me, rewilding should be about getting the most out of our natural landscapes, maximising the potential for healthy ecosystems while at the same time supporting sustainable local businesses which keep rural economies alive.
Tell us about your favourite place to spend time in nature in Affric Highlands.
Several years ago, I walked the Affric-Kintail Way with some family. I remember seeing the pinewood on the south shore of Loch Beinn a’ Mheadhoin for the first time and being completely blown away by its prehistoric beauty. The footpath is a brilliant way to see the slow transition between east and west, from Caledonian pinewood to the rugged moorland landscape at Alltbeithe and the imposing mountains of Kintail enveloping you as you move towards the west coast and the sea.
Tell us about another business operating in Affric Highlands that you admire.
We work a lot with HEIM, a building company based near Inverness, but with frequent projects in our area. They use local timber and sustainable materials to build beautiful and energy-efficient wooden houses. They built the brewery building here at Corrary Farm, as well as the shore station for the Glenelg to Skye Ferry.
Affric Highlands is made possible through generous funding from Rewilding Europe, Scottish Power Foundation, NatureScot – Nature Restoration Fund, Esmée Fairbairn Foundation, FedEx Foundation, British Science Association, Halleria Trust, Mazars Charitable Trust, Support in Mind Scotland, and Jeremy and Hannelore Grantham Environmental Trust.
