Agritourism Futures: Learning Journey To Shropshire
Euan Armstrong, Scottish Agritourism
In March 2025 we supported a cohort of new entrants to agritourism sector to take part in a learning journey to Shropshire.
The trip, developed and hosted by Scottish Agritourism, provided a valuable opportunity to gain inspiration, exchange ideas, and connect with business owners.
In this blog article Euan Armstrong of Scottish Agritourism shares his experience of the trip and reflects on the learning gained.
In March 2025, I had the privilege of joining the Scottish Agritourism Learning Journey to Shropshire, along with 19 other agritourism stakeholders under the age of 35.
Supported by Scottish Rural Network, this trip provided a valuable opportunity to gain inspiration, exchange ideas, and connect with business owners.
My knowledge of Shropshire before the trip was very limited. I had heard of places like Ludlow and Shrewsbury, and I knew that the county lay somewhere along the Welsh border. But beyond that, I didn’t know much else. However, I soon discovered that Shropshire has a thriving agricultural industry, with many working farms branching out into the agritourism sector, opening their gates to the general public.
On this three-day trip to Shropshire, I had the opportunity to visit some of these agritourism businesses, hear directly from the owners, and, most importantly, take inspiration back home to Scotland.
The trip was led by Caroline Millar, Sector Lead, Scottish Agritourism and Laura Paterson, Manager of Scottish Agritourism.
As the official sector body for agritourism in Scotland, Scottish Agritourism is at the forefront of supporting, developing and growing the industry. Scotland is leading the way in agritourism development with a Scottish Government backed national strategy and will be the first country to host a Global Agritourism Conference in June 2026.
I was joined on the trip by nineteen other agritourism stakeholders, all under the age of 35, each representing an agritourism business in Scotland. We had travelled from far and wide, including from North Uist in the Outer Hebrides and the Orkney Isles north of the Highlands, while others came from the bonnie banks of Loch Lomond and rural Angus. It was a diverse group, with agritourism businesses small, large and newly established represented.
After meeting the group in Perth and boarding the coach, we immediately headed south towards the English border.
Our first stop was Cairn Lodge Services in South Lanarkshire. Although at first it seems like any other service station, once inside, you discover there’s a lovely little farm shop selling all sorts of locally produced treats as well as gorgeous fresh cakes, bread, condiments, take away food and more, all produced in house.
Before we arrived, Caroline had asked us all to note down our first impressions of each location we visited – recording our initial thoughts and observations, whether good or bad. Later in the trip, we would discuss our notes as a group and compare what each of us thought.
Cairn Lodge Services is tidy, clean, and relatively quiet compared to other service stations along the M74. After a quick comfort break, we headed further south, crossing the English border and stopped Tebay Services in lovely Cumbria for lunch.
Owned by the same family as Cairn Lodge Services, Tebay Services was built by entrepreneurial farmers whose land was split by the newly constructed M6. Seeing this as a business opportunity, they built two service stations on either side of the road. Like Cairn Lodge, it’s not your typical service station. Inside, there’s a large farm shop selling everything from fresh meat and bread to cakes and sandwiches, while the cafe serves good-quality food, including fresh pies and soup. It’s easy to forget you’re at a service station on the edge of one of the busiest roads in the country.
Overall, the group rated their experience at Tebay Services positive. The ongoing construction outside made its initial appearance less inviting however the group noted the great range of products in the shop and the well-thought-out shop layout and flow.
We headed further south into England and Caroline asked us to sit next to two different people in the group we hadn’t spoken to yet. It was a great way to get to know each other more and make new friends – however little did we know, we would later be tested on what we had learned about each other.
Before arriving at our hotel, we made a quick stop at Snugburys Ice Cream. Located in old farm steadings in rural Shropshire, they’ve been making ice cream for over 30 years and offer flavours to suit every taste. We tried some ourselves, and everyone seemed to love it.
The group enjoying a delicious ice cream at Snugburys
We arrived at our accommodation, Macdonald Hill Valley Hotel, where we would stay for the next two nights just before 4 PM. The staff were extremely well-organised, and considering we were a group of over twenty, check-in was impressively quick and efficient.
Later that evening, we visited Alderford Lake. We were greeted by owner Rob Bebbington and Kelly Lowe, Business Development Manager. Rob spoke recently at the 2024 Scottish Agritourism Conference in Perth and had offered to host the group and give us a tour of the business.
The story behind Alderford Lake is fascinating and Rob has transformed an artificial lake on the family farm into a multi-million-pound business. Visitors come to enjoy water sports, including paddleboarding, open-water swimming, and an Aquapark, as well as to stroll around the lake with friends and family. There is also a lovely café and shop on-site, with an additional lakeside bar open in spring and summer, and a music festival named ‘Alderfest’ which runs annually. It’s a perfect example of entrepreneurial minds taking something seemingly underutilised and transforming it into something valuable.
We enjoyed a delicious dinner in the café. Afterwards we heard more from Rob and Caroline tested whether we had remembered much about our conversations with the two strangers we had met on the bus earlier in the day. We each had to write down their names, business name, rough age, and note something interesting about them that we had learned on a piece of paper before it was read out in front of the group. It led to some interesting answers, to say the least!
We started day two of the trip bright and early and headed to our first visit of the day, The Lambing Shed, located just south of Manchester in Cheshire. The Lambing Shed is a beautiful farm shop and café, stocking locally produced goods from around Cheshire. The bread and bakery display was one of the best I’ve seen, and the outdoor flower display was perfectly designed for Instagram lovers. We met with one of the owners, Kathryn Mitchell, who spoke to us about the business background and future development plans, which included expanding the popular café to nearly twice its current size. Even before 10 AM, the café was already bustling with visitors enjoying their morning coffee.
Kathryn Mitchell, the Lambing Shed, shared her agritourism story with the group.
The Lambing Shed proved to be one of the most popular visits during the trip. The group appreciated its authentic farm feel combined with the beautifully presented and tidy farm and café area. The staff were also extremely attentive and friendly.
Next, we headed to The Hollies Farm Shop, located 15 miles southwest of The Lambing Shed. I was intrigued to visit this business, as I had been told it had gained a huge following after a visit from popular fashion and lifestyle influencer Molly Mae. She had posted about it on social media to her millions of followers, sparking a surge in demand and visitor numbers.
The place was bustling when we arrived. First stop was the café for some lunch, where we were all surprised to see that food was served in cardboard takeaway bags and boxes, rather than on plates, and drinks in plastic cups with plastic straws. The group also found the presence of a large green bin for disposing of rubbish, located right in the middle of the café, a little amusing. It seemed very out of place, with the décor of the café itself being very boutique and fancy-looking and little resemblance of a traditional farm café.
We then had a wander around the farm shop, which was beautifully presented and incredibly busy. One member of the group, who manages a farm shop in the Highlands, mentioned that it was the best-looking fruit and veg display she had ever seen. The group was very impressed with the retail element and thought it looked stunning and very ‘Instagrammable,’ but at the same time felt it lacked a real farming connection.
Our final stop on day two was back at Alderford Lake, which we could now enjoy in daylight. Rob and Kelly gave us a walk-around, showing us their lakeside bar area, ice bar, aquapark, and office space. We then sat down as a group and discussed all our notes from our first impressions of each of the businesses we had visited so far. It was a fantastic knowledge-sharing session, with everyone contributing their thoughts and insights.
Overall, the group loved their time at Alderford Lake and were very impressed with Rob and Kelly’s drive to diversify the farms income streams.
Owner Rob Bebbington and Business Manager Kelly Lowe shared the successes of Alderford.
We began our final day of the trip with a visit to Oteley Estate, located just a few miles from the Welsh border. The estate spans 2,000 acres of gorgeous countryside and has been in the same family for over 500 years. Today, it is owned and run by husband-and-wife Ian and Claire Mainwaring, who greeted us off the bus as we arrived.
We were taken into an exquisite-looking old farm building, now transformed into a farm café, and open to the public two days a week. Ian and Claire are still relatively early in their agritourism journey and spoke to the group about their future plans, which included completing a path around The Mere (the local lake) that adjoins their estate and linking the walk to their farm café. We had a quick walk around the gardens (open to the public on certain days), which looked stunning in the morning sun, providing great views across the lake to the town of Ellesmere.
The gorgeous barn conversion at Oteley Estate.
Our visit to Oteley Estate was fantastic, and with so much agritourism potential, it was exciting to hear Ian and Claire’s ambitions. This is a business I’m sure many in the group would like to return to.
Oteley Estate was our final visit in England and we began the journey north back to Scotland. Shortly after crossing the border, we visited our final stop of the trip, Kirkwood – Real Farm Holidays, in Dumfries & Galloway.
Catching up with the local tractor club on our route out of Shropshire.
As the name suggests, Kirkwood – Real Farm Holidays prides itself on its farming authenticity. Getting here requires a bumpy ride down a 1-kilometre track, and on arrival, you feel truly immersed in the countryside. We met owner and farmer Anthony Steele, along with his partner and some of his employees.
Anthony gave the group a short presentation about his farming and agritourism business. He raises lamb and beef on his 600-acre farm, producing Shh’annu lamb, which he sells to various Michelin-starred restaurants across the country. In addition to his farming operations, Anthony offers a range of farming experiences, including tractor driving and quad biking, as well as seven holiday homes available for rent.
The group was impressed with Kirkwood – Real Farm Holidays’ efforts in preserving the genuine character of the farm in their holiday homes, which oozed a rustic countryside charm. It made us feel like we were on a real farm, and this was ‘real’ agritourism (you can now see how they got their name).
As a special treat, they had organised a BBQ for us, serving their own Shh’annu lamb and beef, which went down a treat. It was a great way to end what had been a special and inspirational trip.
The final stop of our trip was to Scottish Agritourism Member, Kirkwood – Real Farm Holidays near Lockerbie.
Overall, the trip was fantastic and thoroughly enjoyed by the entire group. One key takeaway was the reaction from the businesses we visited when we spoke about Scottish Agritourism, the role the organisation plays in supporting and developing Scotland’s agritourism sector and the strength of our agritourism network. Our counterparts south of the border were indeed impressed and somewhat envious of what we have.
As we headed home, many participants mentioned they had gained a wealth of inspiration to apply to their own businesses. The group found it to be an eye-opening experience, learning from diverse agritourism models, exchanging ideas, and gaining fresh perspectives on the future of agritourism. We all appreciated the chance to see first-hand the innovative ways others are blending farming with tourism and left with new ideas for enhancing our own offerings. Sector Lead, Caroline Millar summed up the trip nicely by saying; “The future of Scotland’s agritourism sector is in great hands.”
Thank you to Scottish Rural Network for supporting this Agritourism Futures Learning journey.
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