All 6 of our community-owned Crofts have tenants who live and work on the island. It was with the support of the Scottish Land Fund that CCDC was able to acquire this land, for the purpose of providing crofting opportunities to individuals & families.
3 of our crofting tenants are building new homes on their crofts.
Our latest croft acquisiton – Ben Sgoiltaire – includes a modern 4-bed bungalow
The smallest of the Lower Kilchattan crofts, The Wee Croft, is just 4 acres.
Taken on by a family in 2020, it has a developing produce garden and native broadleaf trees planted with the support of the Woodland Trust for shelter and biodiversity.
Walkers are welcome through the croft and across the community-owned common grazing, provided that dogs are kept on a lead for the safety of hens & sheep. The shared grazing is rugged, with spectacular sea views, dramatic sea bird cliffs at Druim nam Faoileann and archaeological features to find in the landscape.
Phil Jones and Carrie Seymour took on the tenancy of Woody End Croft, situated in Uragaig in 2011, and moved to Colonsay in 2012.
As the name suggests, the croft is mainly woodland – predominately birch and rowan, however it was also overrun with rhododendron ponticum. After a huge effort, this has now mainly been eradicated and the freed up space re-planted with native species and woodland walks created through the newly accessible areas.
They plan is to set up glamping sites in the woods which have spectacular views over Kiloran Bay.
The remainder of the croft has two small paddocks which are filled with wild flowers. They have 3 shetland ponies to graze the paddocks and these are managed so as to maintain them as wild flower meadows.
They have also planted an orchard and have created from scratch a vegetable and cut flower plot.
Cut flowers and vegetables have been produced for sale and they have provided bouquets and flowers for local weddings.