Our visit was to Craigengillan Estate near Dalmellington in Ayrshire, as guests of Mark Gibson and Fi McClelland. Some 30 members and friends attended. Owned by the McAdam family from 1580, the Craigengillan Estate was starting to fall into a state ofneglect and decay when Mark Gibson purchased it in 2000. Over the last fourteen years Mark set about an ambitious transformation of the 3000 acre estate with the eventual aim of making it self-sustaining. To achieve this, he based his strategy on a verytwenty-first century approach to land ownership. He sought to involve the local community and to encourage public access. The location of the estate, close to the ex-mining village of Dalmellington, with its high rate of unemployment and other social problems, had led to frequent incidents of vandalism, fire-raising and poaching in the past. These problems had to be addressed head on. Big gates and Keep Out signs were not going to do the trick. Mark adopted a pragmatic approach; with no formal agreement with local people, but a willingness to work together a very positive relationship developed with the local community.
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