A 3400-ACRE Scottish estate is set to be bought by a rewilding project after it managed to raise the necessary £10 million in funds.
Highlands Rewilding, which was founded by the former Greenpeace director Jeremy Leggett, announced that it has raised the £10.5m needed to buy the Tayvallich estate at Lochgilphead, Argyll.
For sale with agents Strutt and Parker as a whole or as 13 separate lots, the estate comprises many houses and cottages as well as encompassing three different Special Areas of Conservation (SAC) and five Sites of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI).
The estate also includes the entirety of the 811-acre tidal island of Danna.
In an email sent to Friends of Highlands Rewilding on Wednesday morning, Leggett said: “We have the funds available with which to acquire Tayvallich, and are intent on closure by the end of March …
“At Highlands Rewilding, the team is looking forward to many aspects of the work we will be able to do on Tayvallich. The rich tapestry of habitats onshore and offshore will provide fertile ground for our data acquisition and processing, and natural-capital verification science.
“The many activities we will be able to pursue with the local community will give us the chance to create an exemplar of community-company synergy. The directors are actively considering how to enshrine public integrity principles with ethical private interests in the board’s charter.”
Leggett said that the financing campaign would be extended into March and April “in order to fully test investor sentiment now that we can offer confidence in our effort to buy the jewel that is Tayvallich”.
He went on: “We invite investors of all kinds to join us, during this extended campaign. We are not setting an upper limit on the funds we seek, because the more we raise the more we can scale nature recovery and community prosperity.”
Highlands Rewilding has already acquired Beldorney in Aberdeenshire and Bunloit near Loch Ness.
Speaking to The National in December, Leggett said Tayvallich would be the first time British banks have ever lent to a major rewilding project.
Strutt and Parker said the sellers had been “persuaded by Jeremy Leggett’s vision” and pushed the closing date back to February 28 to allow Highlands Rewilding to drum up the necessary fund for the purchase.
The estate's property listing can be found here.
