A WELL-KNOWN farm family on the shores of Loch Lomond have been looking back at a successful 2022 – and speaking of their hopes for the new year.

The Lennox family – Kay, her husband Dougie, and parents Bobby and Anne Lennox – have been pioneers in the ‘agritourism’ business in the Helensburgh and Lomond area for many years, and Bobby and Anne featured in the BBC documentary This Farming Life in 2016.

More than 800 people attended the 2022 incarnation of ‘Lambing Live at Luss’, at the family’s Shantron farm, and Kay says there has already been a lot of interest for this spring – with hopes that if they can squeeze out another weekend of lambing, they can increase visitor numbers to 1,000 this year.

On top of that the family runs five luxury lodges – known as ‘Bonnie Barns’ – with interior fitting of another two due to begin this month, with the hope of launching in the spring.

“It has been a very exciting year seeing them come together and financially, the extra income will be very welcome.

“Another big positive has been welcoming back our international visitors from the likes of America, Australia and all over Europe, for the first time since Covid,” Kay continued.

“We have really been developing our travel trade with big bus tours coming in with visitors from Canada and America, who really love the traditional family farm story and come to hear about our history and relationship with the land and our animals.

“We make a real point with guests in taking the time to meet them and share the story of our farm and it has been so lovely to see an injection of life in the local area, people spending time around Loch Lomond and really enjoying the outdoors.

“Our business is constantly reinvesting, and the challenge is making sure we can continue to run and keep developing, while remaining profitable.

“The year ahead will be about making sure the business stays profitable and hopefully that will include an increase in visitors to the farm and some much-needed clarity on future support.”

There is plenty of excitement ahead for the Lennox family of Lennox of Lomond, who farm on the western shores of Loch Lomond, with plans to launch two new luxury lodges in the spring.

The hill sheep farm, which has seen 11 generations of the Lennox family run it, stretches over 4000 acres and is home to 1100 Blackface sheep. It is also a hot destination for visitors, with more than 3000 footfall recorded on-farm in 2022, split between their luxury ‘Bonnie Barns’ and variety of farm tours and experiences.

Kay, who together with her husband, Dougie, and parents, Bobby and Anne Lennox, runs the agritourism side of the business, has had an exceptionally busy year, welcoming back their first international tourists post-Covid; taking on a full-time member of staff and building two new lodges, taking their offering up to five luxury lodges.

"At the start of 2022, we began constructing two new barns and this January, we begin the interior fit, with the hope of launching in the spring,” said Kay.

“Scottish agritourism is really gaining momentum and it was brilliant to have a stand at this year’s Highland Show, where so many members came to visit us.

"This December, we held the Scottish Agritourism conference, in Perth, which was a real 2022 highlight, getting to be part of something so big and connecting people involved in the sector, from all over the country.”

Commenting on the beef and sheep side of the business, she added: “The sheep are in great condition this year and we had a really good tupping season. The weather was dry and cold with no major storms to disrupt them. Most of the sheep are getting ready to go back on the hill after Christmas.”

Their sheep are a lucrative draw for agritourism business in the Spring, with over 800 visitors taking part in bespoke lambing experiences this year. Kay said there has already been a lot of interest for this Spring, and they hope that for 2023, if they can squeeze out another weekend of lambing, they can increase visitor numbers to 1000.

Looking ahead to 2023, future agricultural support is firmly on Kay’s mind: "Being a tenanted hill farm in the national park, there are a lot of restrictions to what we can do on the farm and we need to know soon what options are available that we can realistically look at.

"We can’t turn our hill to trees, as there would be no space for our grazing sheep, and we are very worried by the buying up of Scotland’s land for trees, to offset everyone else’s carbon.

“As a small business, we weren’t able to get Leader funding, and as tenant farmers, we couldn’t’ get a business loan, so everything is self-funded.

"Our business is constant reinvesting, and the challenge is making sure we can continue to run and keep developing, while remaining profitable.

"The year ahead will be about making sure the business stays profitable and hopefully that will include an increase in visitors to the farm and some much-needed clarity on future support.”