Bell Ingram Can Help You Achieve Your Agritourism Dream

The UK’s staycation market has never had it so good! Already gaining popularity before the pandemic, there’s no doubt that coronavirus has significantly accelerated the demand for holidaying at home.

Farmers and landowners looking for alternative revenue streams have embraced the opportunity to maximise their assets, and the high quality of many of these enterprises is giving foreign holiday destinations a run for their money.

Why bother with the hassle of flying abroad when you have luxury holiday lets and glamping experiences on your doorstep? Or the convenience of soaking up our beautiful scenery from the comfort of your motorhome.

The push to develop the sector is well underway in Scotland with the industry goal to have 1,000 Scottish farming and crofting enterprises offering an agritourism experience, with at least 50% providing a food and drink element by 2030.

If successful, this could be worth £250m to the economy, potentially supporting 10,000 full-time jobs by the end of the decade according to the first Scottish Agritourism Growth Tracker report which was compiled by VisitScotland on behalf of industry body Scottish Agritourism.

Agritourism is definitely becoming a growing travel trend and at Bell Ingram we are working with many clients who have already dipped their toes in this lucrative market.

However, if you are considering renovating farm buildings into holiday lets, creating a glamping facility or simply allowing motorhomes to access to your fields, there are a lot of things you must consider first … and Bell Ingram’s multi-disciplinary team of rural land and property experts can help you get started:

Valuations – Our RICS registered valuers can provide valuations for all types of rural property, including holiday letting and rural tourism. Our team of professionals provide valuations for a wide range of rural property types and we routinely work for private, corporate and public sector clients, as well as banks and other lenders.

Landlord/Tenant – Tenants must gain the permission of their landlord proceeding with any new business development opportunity. If there are projects you would like to pursue, our experts can advise tenants how to approach this in the best possible way.

Architectural Services – Whether it’s renovating an existing farm building to create a holiday let or preparing a 3D visualisation of a visitor centre, BID’s architects and technologists have s strong track record of working on agritourism projects of all sizes. BID also works with clients to identify sites for potential projects.

Planning – Working closely with Land Agents and Architects, our Planning Consultant can provide clients with expert advice to turn your ambitions into reality. Using a professional planning consultant takes the guesswork out of the process, ensures work proceeds smoothly which could save you money in the long run.

Microgeneration & Renewables – Bell Ingram have been providing independent and un-biased advice to private clients on all aspects of small-scale renewable energy schemes for almost 25 years. Our expertise ensures optimum payback on hydro, wind, heat pump, biomass heating, solar thermal and photovoltaic (PV), energy storage, community heating, and combined heat & power (CHP).

AMC – The first key component is how you plan to finance your agritourism enterprise. Bell Ingram’s highly experienced network of AMC agents can organise loans for clients looking to raise fund to get their project off the ground.

*Bell Ingram is a member of Scottish Agritourism Network and our staff will be attending the upcoming Scottish Agritourism Conference at Perth Concert Hall on Tuesday 6^th and Wednesday 7^th November. Look out for our distinctive blue gilets and stop us for a chat!

Article posted on 12/09/2022

Guest Blog: Managing trees and vegetation whilst being mindful of sustainability

By James Morrison, Senior Asset Engineer at Network Rail Scotland

It is a significant and ongoing challenge to manage the many risks that trees and vegetation can pose on our long, but generally narrow, infrastructure corridors. We cover the varied geography of Scotland which requires our teams, supported by specialist contractors, to be based strategically. Local knowledge of the infrastructure and asset condition, plus the ability to respond quickly to any issues is fundamental.

We make management decisions using data and imagery collected during multiple inspections undertaken by trains, people on foot, drones and manned aircraft. This is combined with additional information from our passenger and freight customers, neighbours and multiple key stakeholders. We then generate risk based workstreams so we can best deploy people and equipment to deliver this work efficiently and cost effectively on behalf of the taxpayers who fund the railway.

We also have to balance our operational responsibilities with those of being a large landowner, as the railway contains significant flora and fauna and in turn natural capital. We employ professional (in house) ecologists to advise our teams on how to protect this biodiversity based on site observations, historic records or legal designations. Not all trees and vegetation are a risk to trains so we can, where safe to do so, retain, pollard or prune trees. Every site has specific requirements, and it takes the work of many professionals from across Scotland to manage the lineside areas that flank the tracks.

First and foremost, Scotland’s Railway fulfils a variety of travel needs from business and leisure to daily commuter services, including cross border services. 

However, we equally have a responsibility to appropriately offset our tree and vegetation works that support this primary function. Our approach is governed by railway standards that reflect targets from our regulators and funders. But more importantly, it is the right thing to do.

Replanting is only one aspect of improving biodiversity on the railway. Mitigating the impact of our work takes many forms such as the habitat piles of cut woody material or standing and lying sections of dead wood. Raptor perching poles, crevice creation and veteran feature mimicry (via cutting incisions in trees) and provision of bird and bat boxes are some other methods deployed. Where appropriate and access to maintain is available, we plant native grass and wildflower areas, high wildlife value hedgerows and even small ponds can be considered. 

Mitigation can take place on railway land (where space allows) or alternatively in locations adjacent to, or even remote from the railway (offsetting). We are currently working to establish suitable partnerships with other landowners where offsetting would be appropriate. Locations on such land and where public access is possible have an added advantage to the people of Scotland as they can potentially visit these locations and enjoy them.

As a large landowner, we feel we can have a tangible and positive impact on biodiversity and sustainability and the changes we are making are also being acknowledged and welcomed at a local level by communities.

Article posted on 29/09/2022