We have lived at The Lint Mill since October 1st 2009.  We have been learning to live sustainably, to learn from our land and to listen to the wisdom that sits in this place, our home, our landscape.

 

Waterlog

The North Medwyn is a tributary of the River Clyde and forms part of the boundary to our land. When we moved here in 2009 we were thrilled to find ourselves living by water. It made the landscape feel so animated. Over time we have learned a lot about the Medwyn, that it’s often spelled […]

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Our Daily Bread

Guests enjoy their freshly baked daily bread at The Lint Mill and it is always a talking point, so this month we are taking a closer look at why Colin’s bread is so good and why it matters to us in so many ways. Colin first met Andrew Whitley when he participated in one of […]

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A Sheep of Many Colours

Last month we sadly lost our old Soay tup, Wild End Astor. He was a great ram who had lived at The Lint Mill since he was a lamb. Astor sired well over 100 lambs from our small flock of Soay ewes during his nine years with us. Older tups naturally decline in fertility but […]

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7 Ways to Beat The Winter Blues

February can be such a tricky time of year in Scotland. The days are short and the winter can feel never ending. Without the build up to the Christmas festivities to distract us, January and February can feel very long months indeed. Added to this, we seem to have had as much ‘weather’ as climate […]

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The Lint Mill Soaps

We have been making our own Organic Goats Milk Soap since 2018. In those early days, Deborah was lucky to have lots of help from our lovely neighbour Niki who was a soap maker (she used to trade locally as Findlays Bar before changing career into teaching). Niki generously shared her soap making knowledge with […]

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Christmas at The Lint Mill

We had hoped our kitchen and scullery would be complete for the festivities but the work had taken longer than expected, not helped by the deep snow and temperatures of minus 17 degrees in early December. It’s been a challenge getting tradespeople down our farm track, despite Colin’s heroic gritting efforts. The final job of […]

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Timefulness

The mood on the smallholding changes at this time of year. After a busy summer (with B&B guests and lots of successful courses) where the fields have literally been buzzing with life, things start to quieten down, plants and mini-beasts all enter a period of dormancy and we begin to see the holding in a […]

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Underwater Pigs

We have had quite an adventure with our four lovely British Saddleback pigs recently. We have three pig pens and we try to use them in rotation (alternating with planting green manures and vegetables) as pigs can be very hard on the land with their rooting behaviour and fondness for digging wallows. We keep our […]

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Row, row, row your boat

We are SO excited about the Coracle Building Experience this month. It’s called an ‘experience’ because it’s so much more than a course. The Lint Mill enjoys a beautiful riverside location and so it’s the perfect location to build a boat! There will be camping and we will celebrate the joys of cooking and eating […]

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Living the Good Life

I wish we’d had a fiver every time someone had called us Tom and Barbara over the years! But believe me, we’re really no Tom and Barbara and those that know me, will know I’m often fighting off my inner Margo!  Nonetheless, the idea of a sustainable life was always a good one and when […]

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