On Tuesday 25th August Business representatives were invited by the McConchie Family to the Laggan Outdoor Activity Centre at Gatehouse of Fleet, to celebrate with them the success of their 15 month long monitor farm project with Scottish Enterprise & Go-Rural.
The evening was open to all businesses either operating in or considering diversifying into agritourism , It was an inspiring event and gave people a chance to discuss the opportunities and challenges of managing complex tourism businesses while also running productive farming enterprises. The Guests all had the chance to enjoy Laggans attractions including Scotland’s Longest Zip Wire , Europe’s first Human Sling shot, Archery , A tour at Moss Yard and to round the evening off they held a BBQ in the wonderful new ‘Hut On The Hill’ Which is available to hire and seats up to 25 people, plus comes with a BBQ chef if you so wish. perfect for birthdays, engagements, celebrations, Hen parties, drinks receptions. in the hills at Laggan.
The three McConchie brothers – John, Murray and Duncan – who along with their parents Kerr and Caroline, run the holiday park, outdoor adventure park and farm business have actively participated in the programme with the aim of creating a sustainable future for the farm and tourism business.
Duncan, who runs the outdoor adventure centre, believes that the experience has been ‘transformative’ in terms of driving the business forward.
Duncan commented: “Being part of the Monitor Farm project has been an incredible opportunity for the whole business and the family. We have shared best practise, developed new ways of working and thinking and confronted some of our greatest challenges head on. We’ve gained confidence in our pricing and marketing, discussed the best ways to source funding, looked at and implemented a succession plan and developed comprehensive business plans for the future direction of the businesses.”
Facilitated by Caroline Millar, Scottish Enterprise embarked on the 15-month Agritourism Monitor Farm programme. Following its success, Scottish Enterprise, together with the Scottish Government, will now undertake a study into the potential of agritourism for Scotland.
Commenting on the outcome Dr Julian Pace, Director of Rural Operations for Scottish Enterprise said: “Scotland has a great opportunity to capitalise on the agritourism movement that is sweeping the globe. In Italy, for example, holidaymakers staying on 20,000 Italian farms contribute £1.2bn directly to farmers with 55% of these visitors from the domestic market.
“Laggan outdoor has been an exceptional real-life case study in which we explored so many topics in great depth: there is no doubt that the project has identified some key learnings from which the whole industry can benefit from.”
Reports from previous Monitor Farm meetings including raising finance, making money from renewables, digital technology and succession planning can be found on http://www.goruralforbusiness.com
You can find out more about the brand new ‘Hut On The Hill’ which is available for hire at Laggan and all the other fantastic attractions on their website at http://www.lagganoutdoor.co.uk/
Pictures Copyright (c) R.B Photography and Laggan Outdoors
