Teasses Estate is privately owned and based just outside Ceres in Fife - about 20 minutes from St Andrews. They have 1100 acres of organic farmland, a well-established sports business, a Royal Horticultural Society Partnered Walled Garden and a thriving wedding venue. The gardens and estate were opened to the public just before lockdown in 2020, and since then the number of visitors has increased week by week.
Just before lockdown in 2020, the Gardens and Estate was opened to the public, which was a challenge for the Estate due to the loss of visitors. Since then they have seen an increase in visitors week on week. Since Covid stopped the world in its tracks, there has been an increased focus on the rural community, not only in Scotland but around the world. With more and more people choosing to make the countryside their home, or choosing 'stay-cations' over traditional holiday destinations, now is the perfect time to showcase all the good we do for the countryside, wildlife and conservation.
One big thing the estate has noticed is an increase in the number of visitors who have never really spent time in the countryside before - coming to the estate and wanting to learn. This is where the idea for our Land and Vintage Festival came from. The Teasses are extremely proud of their achievements over the past 26 years and are champions of the countryside. As such, they are keen to share their work with the wider community, as well as that of their neighbours and rural business contemporaries. Teasses is a bastion of the local rural community and what better place to host an annual Land Festival that brings together interests in gardening, farming, sport and conservation, arts and entertainment and other rural enterprises. There is no other event in Scotland that brings together all these key elements of rural life in one place and they are looking to expand the offering over the years.
They want to showcase what the Scottish countryside has to offer. The world we live in is changing, perhaps not always for the better, but education is the best way to ensure that their way of life is understood and embraced by the public for years to come, given the external pressures we all face as a rural community. The media has moved towards a glamourised version of rural life, but programmes such as This Farming Life, Clarkson's Farm and others are up to date with the public and show the realities of maintaining a viable business in the countryside.