Self Catering Holidays in the Scottish Borders and Edinburgh

Farm view
Flowers
Plum tree
It's a dogs life
Valais blacknose sheep
Sunflower sunset
Lucky dog
Farm view
Flowers
Plum tree
It's a dogs life
Valais blacknose sheep
Sunflower sunset
Lucky dog
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Cliftonhill Organic Farm

We are very lucky to have Cliftonhill Organic Farm in such a beautiful and fertile area where we can produce the best of crops and livestock.

We have been farming organically for more than 15 years growing oats for porridge, feeding sheep and now growing flowers for local pick your own blooms throughout the summer.

We are working hard to reduce our carbon footprint by farming organically, we use biomass for heating cottages, offices, and workshops and recently we have installed solar panels to provide clean sustainable electricity.

Our farming year starts in the spring, like everything we do the timing is very weather dependant. Some years we can sow oats in February but mostly it is March and April before the soil dries out and warms up. As organic farmers getting a good seed bed for sowing oats is crucial for the development of the crop. We don’t use any chemicals for weed control so we need the oats seed to get off to a good start and hopefully outgrow the weeds.

Sunflowers and other crops to feed wild birds through the winter are sown in May along with plots of Dahlias, Gladiolus, and summer flower mixes. The flowers are grown for pick your own blooms or as bouquets. River banks are bursting with wild flowers and bees are buzzing. Cliftonhill Farm is a beautiful place for holiday guests to relax and enjoy the beauty of our patch in Scotland.

Harvest is in August when we cut the oats and take them into store for use throughout the following winter. The oats are milled in batches throughout the year into porridge oat flakes in Kelso to supply Nairn’s who make them into oatcakes, and we also bag and sell them as Eden Valley Oats. I am sure that you will find a bag in your cottage or Hideaway!

The oats are followed by sheep that graze the stubbles until the Spring providing fertility for the following crop and maturing into either breeding sheep, for local farmers, or top-quality organic lamb for Sainsburys and local butchers.

Grazing sheep and growing clover and grass through the winter helps the land rest and regenerate ready for the next Spring when we start all over again….

“Live like you are going to die tomorrow and farm like you are going to live forever”
~John Marsden~

Eden River Walk
Eden River Walk
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