Katharine Sharp runs Achpopuli farm in the small community of Abriachan, high on a hill above Loch Ness. With its sheep, cattle, ducks and geese, Achpopuli adopts a regenerative, low-inpact approach. The animals help to create a diversity of habitats and manage the area’s wetlands, which in turn support the animals. A haven for birdlife, snipe, curlew and black grouse can all be found at Achpopuli.
As an Affric Highlands ‘early adopter’ featured in our film, Katharine spoke to us about how Achpopuli is not just a farm but a community resource – a place to share passion and knowledge about the landscape, and its history.
Tell us about your connection to the Affric Highlands landscape.
I live in Abriachan, a thriving rural community that sits above Loch Ness on Affric Highlands’ eastern edge. I was looking for somewhere to run a small regenerative farm – something I had been planning for years – and, at more than 300 metres above sea-level, Achpopuli seemed like an interesting place to do that.
When we arrived at Achpopuli, it just felt right deep down in my tummy. My partner Mike and I had been on one of our first dates in the nearby Abriachan community forest, and he had spent many sunny days boating on Loch Lait with his family when he was younger.
I have grown to love it more and more, exploring all the little niches and always finding something new. The intimacy makes me feel at peace. It is like the landscape itself is guiding me and my business forward.
Tell us more about Achpopuli Farm.
Achpopuli Farm is an old shieling site (Achad: field. Pobul: tents/temporary structures), which means it has been farmed by women for centuries. Traditionally, shielings were high-pasture sites where people took their livestock to graze during the summer. Today, nestled beside the community-run forest, with no road noise in earshot, it remains a very special place.
I came here in 2018 and have slowly been shaping a nature-positive farming life since. My sheep have a holistic grazing plan, maintaining and improving biodiversity as they go. Their meat, fleece and tallow provide me with high-quality products to sell at local markets and online – including sausages, woollen goods and natural skincare products.
I also have rare breed Shetland ducks and geese, who graze under the farm’s young trees and shape the farm’s wetlands. I sell their eggs, and aim to sell breeding stock in the future.
How will Affric Highlands benefit your livelihood?
I would love to see the creation of local facilities that support a circular economy – for example, traditional bark tanning, wool milling, an abattoir and farm shop.
The initiative has also created new work for me. I have taken on a one-day-a-week facilitator role to establish a local farming cluster. This is a partnership between neighbouring land managers, crofters and farmers who work together on projects that protect and enhance biodiversity at scale. If we are successful, I hope the cluster will lead to the creation of an agroforestry system here in Affric Highlands.
What does rewilding mean to you?
Rewilding to me is more of a state of mind than an action – seeing ourselves as part of nature, and becoming a more responsible part of the ecosystem that gives us life.
A friend once said to me that ‘everything gardens’. All beings within a landscape have an impact on their surroundings and on the lives of others – positive or negative. Balance, cycles, and evolution can all change a landscape – but we want it to become more healthy and abundant, with more diversity of habitats.
People have lived and farmed for thousands of years around Achpopuli. People are very much part of the landscape; but we need to get better at sharing and stop trying to dominate nature.
Tell us about your favourite place to spend time in nature in Affric Highlands.
I love spending time around the farm, visiting the bog and the burns and the ponds. There are a few little spots, when the light is just right, that are magical. I am also lucky enough to be surrounded by a fabulous network of trails within Abriachan community forest – so taking a wander through the trees, up a hill or across the moor is a great way to take a break.
In the last few years I’ve found real comfort and pleasure in the familiar; all the changes that come with different seasons, weather and wildlife – really getting intimate with my surrounding landscape.
Tell us about another business operating in Affric Highlands that you admire.
Bunloit Woolery make beautiful felted rugs and handspun yarn, as well as equipment to make it easier for others to process wool on a small-scale at home. They are mindful of the diverse pastures that the sheep graze, and the importance of common grazings.
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.
