Press Release

Tourism in the North-West Highlands has been given a boost this week with the awarding of £66000 to The Achiltibuie Garden to help build its new visitor centre in Achiltibuie, Wester Ross. The award has been made by the Scottish Government as part of the latest round of funding from the Rural Priorities scheme within the Scottish Rural Development Programme. The new single-storey timber building, designed by local architect Allan Graham, includes a café and shop and will provide a much-needed boost to tourism in this remote area when it opens later this year, as well as safeguarding three existing jobs and creating several more over the next few years. Julie Edwards, marketing director of the business said: ?We?re delighted to have been awarded this grant. The economy of Achiltibuie, Coigach and the Ullapool area depends very much on attracting tourists and our new visitor centre will make a significant contribution to this. We are also very grateful for all the help and support given to us by our local community and would like to take this opportunity to thank everyone for their messages of congratulation.?

The building is part of a larger project which started in 2008 with the construction of a custom-made Keder greenhouse. This is powered using micro-renewables and includes a rainwater collection system to provide water for a range of plants grown in both hydroponic and soil-based systems. The new building will also use rainwater harvesting and wind-generated electricity and will feature a range of measures aimed at contributing to the company?s ethos of minimising its environmental impact as much as possible.

Other rural businesses will also benefit from this award as local materials will be used in its construction, including straw bale insulation, and the work will be carried out by local tradesmen. An application for detailed planning consent has recently been submitted to Highland Council and it is hoped that construction can begin as soon as all the necessary consents have been obtained.

Background notes:
The Achiltibuie Garden is based in Achiltibuie, Wester Ross, part of the North-West Highlands Geopark. There are several strands to the business which at the moment concentrates on its mail order element, supplying a range of hydroponics growing kits. These range from those suitable for growing herbs on a windowsill to custom-designed systems for domestic greenhouses. There is a loyal and well-established customer base from when the business of The Achiltibuie Hydroponicum was taken over in early 2007 by three of its employees: Julie Edwards, Alison Graham and Diana Wilding. They then chose the name The Achiltibuie Garden to reflect a wider range of activities from those carried out by the old Hydroponicum. In addition to the mail order, The Achiltibuie Garden grows and sells a range of fresh produce and is currently developing outdoor growing spaces on its site in Achiltibuie. The visitor centre is the next stage in the company?s development and it is hoped that it will be ready to welcome visitors later this year.

Achiltibuie Garden visitor centre

Alison, Di and Julie are delighted to share the great news that The Achiltibuie Garden has been awarded £66,000 towards the cost of building the new visitor centre, from the Rural Priorities area of the Scottish Rural Development Programme.

The announcement was made on Thursday 7th January and was covered by the Scotsman newspaper:
Who will get the cash in conservation giveaway
THE Achiltibuie Garden in Wester Ross will receive £66,000, half the cost of building a new visitor centre which will increase employment from three to five full-time equivalents by 2012.

The firm sells kits to grow vegetables, salad plants, herbs and fruit and has a mail order arm supplying a range of hydroponics growing kits, from those suitable for growing herbs on a windowsill to custom-designed systems for domestic greenhouses.

November news from The Garden

Today the sun is shining in Coigach which makes a welcomed change from all the rain we have had over the last month or so. October felt like the wettest month ever and thought we would be wearing wellies until Easter!

I mentioned in my last blog that there was great buzz in the community with filming for Eagle of The Ninth happening here. I have to say I greatly admire all those who were involved as they remained upbeat throughout despite the horrendous rain and cold they all endured.

In true west coast tradition we decided to throw a ceilidh for all those involved with the film and it was truly one of the best nights we have enjoyed in our community hall since it was built 10 years ago. A great mix of people from the local community and EO9 enjoyed good music, singing and dancing - even the stars of the film, Channing Tatum and Jamie Bell (famous for his role as Billy Elliot) joined in the Eightsome Reels and Strip the Willows.

We welcomed a group of visitors, from Denmark, to the Garden at the beginning of October and they thoroughly enjoyed seeing so much produce being grown in hydroponics, using renewable energy to power the pumps. Infact the tour guide has decided to include us in their new tours for 2010, even though we cannot guarantee when the visitor centre will be open.

At the end of October we felt it was time to close the growing houses on a regular basis as the daylight hours have reduced and by the nature of growing many of the plants have come to their natural end. (Not quite as they will all be added to our compost bin). The number of visitors to the area has dropped off but we are happy to show people around by prior arrangement.

This season has seen a big increase in the amount of fresh produce we have supplied to our local shops - Achiltibuie and Polbain Stores. Chris Firth-Bernard, Michelin star chef, delighted diners at The Summer Isles Hotel with the inclusion of fresh, locally grown hydroponic produce in his menues.

Di managed to have a break in October - no, not a well earned holiday but an injury to her left wrist. This has not deterred her at all and although we knew about the benefits of using hydroponic growing, for people with mobility problems, it was re-inforced by first "hand" experience. All the winter lettuces she had sown needed to be transplanted from our Gold growing medium into net pots filled with hydroton.

At home I failed to sow any winter lettuce but continued to harvest my tomatoes and made lots of tomato sauce, using my hydroponic grown chillies, and garlic and onions from the Garden. Now I have lots of handy little tubs filled with the sauce, in my deep freeze, and they are so useful as bases for quick meals and homemade pizzas!

The fencing of our vegetable garden and fruit cage will start shortly -and more apple trees have been ordered. The next area to be planned will be the ornamental garden so I feel a trip to some good garden centres coming on! We already had some shrubs, from Cottage Garden Nursery, but need so many more... As we cannot plant them yet Di has built a little turf walled garden to protect them. A grant from The Moidart Trust has made it possible for us to establish our outdoor gardens and fruit orchard. The grant also funded our bespoke shed, from Dundonnel Timber.

The Achiltibuie Garden will soon have their first mail order catalogue. Alison and I have relooked at our products and should have the first design ideas to look at next week.

September update

It's been a rather busy summer and now I have time to catch my breath thought it was time to sit down with a cup of tea and fill you in on what's been happening at The Garden and in my own tunnel at home.

During July we finally managed to get the growing houses open to the public 3 afternoons a week. With 3 raised growing beds, growing benches filled with hydroponics, hanging baskets with tomatoes and salads we weren't sure if there would be enough in the growing house for visitors to see. As summer progressed further hydroponic growing systems were added - 3 floating rafts for lettuce production and our ground level system for tomatoes and cucumbers. Visitors have been so impressed by what we have achieved in such a short time and are looking forward to following developments at The Garden.

An outdoor vegetable growing area was laid out but the temporary fencing has meant that the geese have managed to get in a few times. Never mind we are soon to get our permanent fencing erected - including a fruit cage.

Sales of our fresh produce have gone from strength to strength, with visitors being able to buy produce picked freshly for them. People love being able to choose their own produce instead of having to buy prepacked items.

Our 2 local shops - Achiltibuie and Polbain Stores have kept Di sowing as the demand for our fresh salad bags have increased in 2009. In addition they are also taking our seasonal produce which has proved to be popular with their customers.

Alison and I have been catering - for a kayaking holiday group and a local wedding. We have enjoyed sourcing and using local produce in our menues to show just what is available locally.

We have found out we were successful in our application to the Scottish Rural Development Programme for our marketing programme. The next stage of this will be the design, print and distribution of our new colour catalogue.

Allan has been working on the designs for the new visitor centre and with thanks to Iain and Peter we should be ready to submit our application for funding to the SRDP by the end of the month.

At home I have continued to grow some salads for The Garden and have had the best crop of tomatoes ever. This morning I headed out to the tunnel and picked a large bowlful before breakfast! (see photo in the gallery). Stuart's tomatoes in the barrel worked but weren't quite as successful as they might have been. We think there wasn't enough oxygen in the water and they did not put on the same growth as their fellow Alicantes in Gold in pyramid pots. I think there should have been more nutrients as well but I don't have a EC meter and just put in feed as and when.

The "supermarket" chilli plants have done really well in the system and we are about to take them indoors as the night time temperatures have dropped and we don't want to loose them.

The next job will be to clear out the bean and cucumber plants and sow some winter lettuce seeds. Di has already started to sow along at The Garden.

The Eagle of the Ninth, a major blockbuster based on the novel by Rosemary Suttcliffe is being filmed here and quite a few local people have been cast as extras, with filming starting next week.

Sadly we lost one of our geese, Aelia, passed away on the 5th September but Marius has not been on his own as Di had taken this year's goslings up to The Garden early in the summer and he has them for company.

Julie gets growing

From chatting to me on the phone some of you may already know that I am prone to "cheating" when it comes to growing herbs. I am never organised enough to sow my seeds at the correct times (Stuart, my poor husband, tries to motivate me but without a great deal of success) but from mid March onwards I buy a few basil plants from the supermarket (preferably when they are on offer!) and take them home, remove them from the plastic pot they are in and if there is any loose compost I shake it off and then put them into either our seul eau pots or pyramid pots and put into my hydroponic trough system in the polytunnel. These 2 plants usually keep me going until October, depending on the temperature, or if kept indoors a bit longer.


This year I actually spent too much time on the outdoor areas of my garden so the polytunnel wasn't up and running as early as it should have been. We needed to make new supports for our 3 metre double channel system, where we grow our tomatoes and cucumbers, and once this was done we paid a visit to an excellent garden centre in Dingwall, where I stocked up on ready established plants: tomatoes (Gardeners Delight), cucumbers, peppers, dwarf french beans and strawberries. A visit to the supermarket added 2 great chilli plants to the collection.


Once home I decided to transplant them into pyramid pots - like with the basil, I just removed the loose compost and put them into Gold growing medium. I have to admit the plants weren't on a hydroponic feeding system straight away but we are delighted at how well they have grown. The chillies have flowered and now growing lots of chillies, we have had the first picking of french beans, the cucumbers and tomatoes are doing really well. I don't think it was a good idea to buy pepper plants with peppers on them as they have not grown much and one hasn't made any progress although the fruit is still growing. As for the strawberries - it seems raids are made on the tunnel at various times of the day so not sure what the production has been like! I have personally enjoyed several large and delicious strawberries.


I was given some Alicante tomato plants and ran out of space in my hydroponic channel system so decided to recycle a container that I found to make a system for 2 of the plants. Stuart cut out a polystyrene raft to take 2 plastic plant pots. We transplanted the tomatoes into them and used Hydroton (expanded clay granules) as the inert growing medium. We got a new air pump and airstone, added our hydroponic tomato feed and we have fruit!


Having run out of space in our raft system, which we use for growing salads for The Achiltibuie Garden, I decided to take out some of the Little Gem lettuce and planted them into our newly built raised beds. I just left them in their net pots, filled with hydroton, and they have grown well.


Will get some photos of our progress onto the blog soon!