Helping It Happen Awards Winners 2019

The 2019 Helping It Happen National Awards saw more than 200 business owners and industry leaders from across the rural sector join together at the Sheraton Grand Hotel & Spa in Edinburgh for an inspiring evening celebrating rural success.

The sell-out event, sponsored by The MacRobert Trust, shone a light on the passionate work carried out by farms, estates and land-based businesses to help their local communities thrive.

Tourism Award Winner

Sponsored byGLM

Scourie Hotel - Home from home with a flourish

The Scourie Hotel has been a welcoming guest to the North West of Scotland for over 170 years. The hotel, its restaurant and bars offers a home from home atmosphere to anglers who want enjoy some of Scotland’s finest wild brown trout fishing on the hotel’s 300 lochs and lochans. We are known as ‘The Home of Wild Brown Trout’.  

In 2015 the Campbell family

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Rural Business Award Winner

Sponsored byVelux

Ogilvy Spirits

Ogilvy Spirits began as a farm diversification in 2013.  Frustrated with the secondary potatoes that the supermarkets did not want, owners Graeme and Caroline sought to find a use for these unwanted potatoes.   
 
The Ogilvy Distillery is based at Hatton of Ogilvy Farm in Angus.  As tenant farmers, the Strathmore Estate has been very supportive of the

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Rural Property Award Winner

Sponsored byVelux

Inverbroom Estate Rural Housing Project

This estate has spent the last fifteen years renovating and repairing an extensive stock of Victorian era Estate housing. This kind of work is not an easy task as the range of repairs required to vernacular buildings can require skills in stone masonry, lime mortaring and slating as well as joinery and building skills.

This project has been ongoing for a

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Conservation Award Winner

Sponsored byAnderson Strathern

Saving Scotland's Red Squirrels

The red squirrel is one of Scotland’s most loved animals and most of the UK population is found here, despite significant decline in recent decades. Saving Scotland’s Red Squirrels (SSRS) was established in 2009 to ensure that red squirrels will continue to be a part of Scotland’s special native wildlife. Led by the Scottish Wildlife Trust, it is a

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Education Award Winner

Sponsored byBell Ingram

Bringing rural learning to life with The Princes Foundation at Dumfries House

The Princes Foundation - The Education Team at Dumfries House, Ayrshire.

Bringing rural learning to life

Dumfries House estate was saved for the nation by The Prince of Wales in 2007 and is now used to help people engage in learning experiences that promote confidence and personal development, as well as offer training in real-life skills to open up future

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Working With Communities Award Winner

Sponsored byThe MacRobert Trust

Ayrshire Food Hub

Ayrshire Food Hub started when the rural community lost its last remaining facility/school, which was used by the community for social activities.  Local farmers/families were unsuccessful in saving the school but came together to secure another community facility and identified a need for a multi-purpose facility which served the needs of the rural villages

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Enhancing our Environment Award Winner

Sponsored byNatureScot

Creating energy and supporting nature

Lochrosque and Kinlochewe Estates are a family owned and run concern in Wester Ross extending to some 35,000 acres. We are a farming family and have had a presence in Wester Ross since 1961. As time has moved on, we have realised that integrated land management is key where a diverse habitat leads to diverse flora and fauna.

We run 1,200 North Country

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Innovation In Farming Award Winner

Sponsored byDouglas Home & Co

The YEN for excellence is a driver for innovation

Sweethope Farm

I have been part of the yield enhancement network (YEN), for 6 years and have won both Silver and Bronze awards. It makes me think about how we do things, and how to get the cost per tonne down. It continues to be a fantastic learning experience – yield is king, but not at any cost! Producing 14.1tn/ha at a total cost of £97/tn in 2015 is

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Innovation In Farming Award Winner

Sponsored byDouglas Home & Co

Regenerative Agriculture at Durie Farms

It's not been easy, but Douglas Christie's commitment to a 'soil-centric' approach to sustainable farming is paying off in a profitable business, with wider environmental benefits. 

Durie Farms comprises of 570 ha of land situated outside Leven in Fife. After taking over from his father, Douglas decided to explore ways of future proofing the farm. A main

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Iver Salvesen Green Business Award Award Winner

Creating energy and supporting nature

Lochrosque and Kinlochewe Estates are a family owned and run concern in Wester Ross extending to some 35,000 acres. We are a farming family and have had a presence in Wester Ross since 1961. As time has moved on, we have realised that integrated land management is key where a diverse habitat leads to diverse flora and fauna.

We run 1,200 North Country

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