Our Story
We have been lucky enough to call Kilblean our home for over thirty years. Sandy was brought up here, attended school locally, helped on the farm during every holiday before heading to Edinburgh for University and to train as a Chartered Accountant. He has built his career in that profession because his father, Akki, encouraged him to pursue a career outside farming.
Sandy’s father would often tell the story of showing his banker round Kilblean and the banker asking “Why isn’t your son at home farming?” to which his father replied “ I told my son that one day all this would be his… And I haven’t seen him since!”
However, Sandy knew he would always come home to Kilblean…
We love Kilblean and its’ heritage and shall forever be in debt to Akki, who shared so much of his knowledge about the farm, nature and history of this area. We are keen for people to enjoy the farmland and its environment and have modernised these cottages so others can come and enjoy our home as much as we do. Fifty years ago these cottage would have been lived in by farm workers, now the modern technology and economics of farming means that it’s simply not viable for a 320 acre farm to have full time staff. So the cottages have a new future as holiday homes for guests to come to discover plants, wildlife and explore Aberdeenshire and, we hope, learn a little about living in the countryside.
Farming is completely different in many ways to when we were young, but everyone connected with the countryside knows that looking after the land, the environment and the wildlife is the most important thing. This is what our family has been doing for generations and we hope will do for generations to come.
Sustainability
As a working farm with a keen sense of generations past and to come we are committed to encouraging wildlife, pollinators, native trees and plants here.
We are very enthusiastic about our trees at Kilblean, as you walk about the farm you will see pockets of woodland everywhere, this planting was started at least four generations ago. We have some wonderful mature Broadleaf trees and we are currently planning the thinning and felling of some of the less native species on the farm, so the Sitka Spruce trees will be felled (much of the wood going to make pellets for Biomass Burners) and we shall be replacing them with Native Broadleaf Species which will thrive in Aberdeenshire, these include Rowan, Hawthorn, Alder, Birch, Elder and Wild Cherry (locally they are called Gean Trees). We have two native broadleaf plantations already established on Kilblean, so this will be our third one. We cut down dead and dying trees or those which we have assessed to be at risk of falling and use the wood for the fires and stoves which warm the houses and cottages on the farm. We also have Scots Pines, Beech, Sycamore, Oak and Laburnum (a favourite of the Victorians) on the farm. Sadly, we no longer have Elm Trees as they have been decimated by Dutch Elm Disease and at the moment our Ash Trees are fighting Ash Die Back.
We have some hedges on the farm, we would like to have more, we plan to fill in gaps and plant more over the next ten years. All our hedges provide valuable wildlife habitats and are filled with insects and birds. In 2020 we planted approximately 300 dog roses around the farm in hedgerows which we hope will thrive in some of the more challenging growing conditions and encourage pollinators. A local beekeeper has bees on the farm, we love the honey on our toast in the morning. When renovating West Cottage, we had an “interesting” visit of a swarm of Honey Bees in the garden, the Beekeepers took away over 8,000 bees which will populate other hives and make more delicious honey!
To the North side of the farm we have a farm pond, the view of Bennachie from the pond is lovely on a Summer evening. We believe the pond benefits both terrestrial and aquatic animals and insects. Look out for the wild Mallard ducks too. To the South the Gattes Burn runs along the farm’s Southern boundary, we manage the farming carefully here as we are in a Nitrate Vulnerable Zone and our burn feeds into the Ythan River, so use of Fertilizers and animal manure are limited. The burn is looking healthy and we have seen the return of Trout which would have been common there sixty years ago. We have a riparian buffer (Trees and plants next to the burn) and woodland along most of the Southern boundary which encourages biodiversity and provides wildlife corridors which are undisturbed by modern agriculture.
Fifty years ago, Kilblean farmhouse, the cottages and animal water troughs would all have been supplied by natural water from wells. We still talk to people brought up on the farm who remember using hand pumps in the cottages to fill the water tanks there. Nowadays the farmhouse and West Cottage get water from wells on the farm, all the water goes through a water plant which puriifes the water, it has a great taste especially if you are used to drinking city water.
We know that the drive towards sustainability is growing, with Climate Change we need to be planning now so that we can keep Kilblean and our countryside in good heart for the next generations.
During your stay you may see Roe Deer, Hares, Rabbits, Foxes, Red Squirrel, Pheasant, Grey Partridge, Oyster Catchers, hedgerow birds (sparrows, chaffinch, blue tits to name a few), our visitors from Foreign parts – Swallows and Swifts in the Summer and Woodcock in the Winter.
