Kildrummy and Glenkindie Estates lie on the edge of the Cairngorm National Park and consist of 15,000 acres of the most beautiful countryside in Aberdeenshire, straddling the banks of the River Don in the South, to the rolling open hills in the North.
What were once traditional sporting estates, are now being transformed by breathing life back into the land by restoring habitats and ecological processes, recovering iconic missing species, and rebuilding a strong emotional connection between people and the environment.
Owners of the estate, Mr and Mrs Bently, are visionary philanthropists who have a clear vision for what environmental changes need to be made to limit the impact of the rapidly evolving climate crisis.
They believe that Kildtummy and Glenkindie Estates offer one of the most exciting wildlife conservation projects in Scotland.
They believe that if we let nature take back control, with sympathetic encouragement, the estate can provide a blueprint for landscape scale recovery across the UK.
The estate has overcome multiple challenges on its journey to achieve their vision; with over 8 tenant farms and numerous tenanted residential properties, there have been considerable set-backs while undertaking extensive renovations on the estate including subsidence, rotten timbers, vermin, structural decay, eroded foundations etc.
When purchasing the estates, the owners took on all existing staff, but had to re-role those who had previously been part of the sporting element such as ghillies, game-keepers.
This has taken time and effort to ensure these staff feel valued in their new roles. The new owners are from the USA and in the early days, they faced criticism and challenges regarding their ambitions for the estate.
It has taken considerable outreach and messaging to persuade people of the true value of their intentions and genuine desire to make the estate as beautiful as can be.
Environmental impact sits at the heart of the estates values. Everything takes into consideration how something can affect the environment and provide an economic benefit.
A few examples would include the electrification of the estates vehicle fleet, restoring houses with original materials, recruiting staff and contractors from within the local community, taking numerous daily activities 'in house' including all laundry for holiday cottages, providing electric charging stations at strategic points across the estate, not using weed-killers or fertilisers on the agricultural land, utilising our 8 turbine windfarm to supply energy to the estate and installing biomass boilers where possible across the estate.
Both Kildrummy and Glenkindie sit at the heart of the local community. Not only does the estate have a number of tenanted properties within each village, it actively plays a part in helping and supporting local events and activities.
In the last 12 months, the estate has made significant donations to get dormant clubs and societies back up and running and the local bowls club received assistance with work on its green and surrounding trees.
In addition, the estate works with both Towie and Lumsden schools to help children understand the inner workings of a country estate.
The owners have resurrected the Kildrummy Car Rally and are the primary sponsor for the Lonach Gathering.
The Cushnie Games and Picnic have been supported and financial support for sporting equipment at local schools has also been provided.