Nominee Summary
Balcaskie is a 2000-hectare estate which supports farming, forestry, residential property and since 2012 has successfully diversified by converting heritage farm steadings into commercial units. There are now 3 commercial sites including the Bowhouse food and drink hub near St.Monans in Fife and these now support 45 businesses. In 2023 the estate became the first partner to join Kingsclere Estate in Hampshire in a new initiative called Pitch Up! A scheme that invites businesses to present their ideas to make use of rural land and work collaboratively within an existing business community, benefiting from investment, shared expertise and marketing opportunities.
Overcoming Challenges
Estate Manager, Sam Parsons recognised that the farming business at Balcaskie did not need to get bigger, it needed to become more complex which could only happen if new enterprises were brought in to create the necessary energy. Sam explains, “There were two options. Either the estate develop an enterprise which must be big enough to justify employing people which means we would have to go big. Or, we look to attract other people to set up their own businesses on our land. Pitch Up! was the ideal vehicle to achieve this. The benefit is that we minimise our exposure to risk by having a very low barrier to entry and low investment from both parties.” The Pitch Up! Scheme calls for new ideas once each year although the estate receives enquiries throughout the year. Not all enquiries present a realistic business plan or operation understanding. “We are looking for people with drive and ambition to bring their idea to life but one of the main lessons learned so far is to ensure that prospectus entrepreneurs have a realistic idea of the time, energy and commitment with a sound business plan”. “By being part of the national Pitch Up! Partnership we can learn from each other and shortcut some of those stumbling blocks inevitably hit when people are learning.”
Supporting the community
The estate has created a model on their commercial let sites which Sam describes as “the farmhouse table”. Units are created to a high finish complete with communal kitchen centred in one community space where business owners have the opportunity to come together thereby encouraging those ‘water cooler’ conversations which inspire cooperation, innovation, respite and perspective. Each have a farmhouse table where people can eat together and this format not only reduces set up and maintenance costs to the estate in removing the additional plumbing, water demand and power installations in each individual unit but creates a community space which serves to foster collective problem solving and benefits wellbeing of the tenants which would otherwise risk isolation. This has proved an inspired approach at Balcaskie and has nurtured a unique commercial let environment which has embraced its rural setting, taking full advantage of the surrounding nature and the creativity and communal spirit this space encourages. Balcaskie has now welcomed businesses which have moved across the country to take advantage of this beautiful setting thereby building growth in north east Fife through new people, families, business and supporting further the local supply chain. The estate is rightly proud of its latest data which demonstrates how key such an estate can continue to be in the 21st century to its local community in which it resides. In 1908 the estate recorded that it employed 109 people. Over 100 years later in 2025 the estate now hosts 128 employees across all its sites.
Ethical/environmental standards
Balcaskie’s commercial lets have successfully brought traditional agricultural buildings back into use and its ‘Farmhouse Table’ community model allows for creative ideas to evolve, inspired by the aspirational spaces renovated. Using traditional techniques and all local trades for building renovation and retaining the vernacular, the farm buildings are supplied with heat from Biomass of airsource, electricity from solar and superfast broadband. The estate has actively engaged with its local community, communicating its ambitions and welcoming input. One such example was an enquiry from the local beekeeping association for space and were accommodated on an otherwise redundant strip of marginal land alongside one of the commercial sites. A need for the pollinators to access to fresh water led to the old burn that had once powered the mill wheel becoming again relevant. The estate is inspired to reinstate this feature which will be both a valuable natural water source to the biodiversity of the area which in turn benefits the neighbouring crops, and also a delightful addition to the aesthetic and heritage of the site for its businesses. The estate has further worked with its community to support a local supply chain and in building land based partnerships with its business owners one such initiative is mobile poultry houses which will follow the mob grazed cattle, allowing the hens to scratch the soil and dung for food which creates a organic and circular system which benefits all.
