The Scottish Island Owned By The Community | Gigha

Scotland is said to have some of the most concentrated land ownership in the developed world with under 500 people owning half of the rural land in the country 's government has been by implementing Land Reform policies one notable policy is the community right to buy which has enabled communities to purchase certain Scottish islands an example is the Isle of gear which was sold in 2002 for 4 million pounds to 98 Islanders following a successful Community buyout from its millionaire owner now the power has shifted to the people join me as I spend the next few days exploring the community-owned Isle of gear I've arrived in a place which I believe is called Ten loan it's located on the kintyre peninsula on the west coast of Scotland and this is where you catch the ferry over to the Isle of guia and from this spot over to the island it's three miles and the journey takes 20 minutes you can either buy the tickets online in advance or you can buy the tickets on the ferry which is what I'm going to do the weather looks really nice this afternoon and tomorrow and I actually waited until it was good weather before I decided to go to gear because the beaches look amazing and they always look so much better in the nice weather even though the ferry terminal is small there are a few things there are some toilets there's a little cafe over there and looks like there's a motorhome parking too but I'm not sure if it's open there are some cars parked here in the car park and perhaps these cars belong to people who live on the island so when they come back over to the mainland they can go and do their shopping and things like that or perhaps people have gone over to the island as foot passengers or hire a bike when they go over there so in 2022 this island was bought by the community which is incredible really and apparently it's gone from strength to strength since then with population numbers increasing and new businesses on the island which is really amazing many of the facilities on the island are owned by the Gia Heritage Trust on Isle of dura I visited the community shop which was owned by the community there was a community buyout for that but this is the first time I'm traveling to an entire Island which is owned by the community so I'm really excited to see what it's like we're heading on guys coming oh the foot passengers are lined up ready to go it looks quite a small fairy I wonder if everyone can get on I think there was about nine vehicles [Music] okay so in on this Ferry it's a little bit different to the other fairs I've been on you need to go into the office on the boat to pay all the other ferries they come to you with the card machine so just go in and it was 22 pounds 50 for my return ticket and he said as long as I come back within six months it's fine so yeah I don't know if I'll stay for six months let's see let's see it might be a really nice place so where's the ticket yeah one adult and one car I was charged for this vehicle was charged as a car that's great after arriving onto the island I parked up and set off on foot to explore our ad Manish which is the Seoul Village on the Isle of guia there is a school a shop a hotel post office a church and an amazing seafood takeout place called the nuke the town is also where the Gia Heritage Trust office is based when the Isle of gear was made available for sale in 2001 the local community was encouraged to acquire ownership of the island on the 15th of March 2002 gear was officially transferred to the Isle of guia Heritage Trust a date commemorated annually on the island as Ghia day the trust is managed by a board of volunteer directors chosen by the membership these directors are responsible for developing the Island's assets and advancing Community plans and initiatives to sustain ongoing development on the island several subsidiary companies are established under the trust generation Revenue that aids the Island's growth I went to The Nook takeaway place in the nearby town and I ordered the smoked halibut Bagel so this halibut is from the island so good it's like there's a it's a creme fraiche it tastes a bit more meaty compared to how salmon wood I feel that smoked halibut Bagel was phenomenal 10 out of 10. I was reading online about the Halibut Farm on the island here so angia it's home to the only UK land-based halibut farm and they live in the Atlantic Waters there and there's really great conditions for rearing the fish but according to the owner at the Nook Restaurant there he told me that the Halibut Farm is closing down in a few weeks so that's a shame but I'm glad I got to try it today there's lots of other yummy things on the menu though so if you do come to here and the Halibut is no longer available please try all the other things because they all look so good from art Manish you have the option to travel towards the Northern or Southern tip of the island gear spans a length of seven miles and measures 1.5 miles at its widest point for those interested in cycling bicycle rentals are conveniently located near the ferry terminal I chose to explore the North End of the island first the Gia Heritage Trust has established a dark sky theater on the North End of the island they've also built numerous new Walking cycling trails that make exploring the island really easy here's the cup of blackberries so some of you might not have seen blackberries before I know they're not available in all countries like in Japan people don't really eat these in Scotland there's loads of them just growing wild everywhere and there's so many on this island and there's loads more coming so and I've got a whole cup so I'm going to have these for my breakfast tomorrow and the day after all the sites around the island are well signposted and I next went looking for a place called the fisherman's cave I think I just arrived here at the fisherman's cave let's go and have a look inside at the beginning of the walk it said that you can see carvings of the fisherman's names on the rocks and they date back to the 1700s and they ask you not to carve your own name I'm not planning to do that but uh yeah fascinating this is really cool it's about a 20 minute walk from the main road but definitely worth coming down and you get to walk along some lovely beaches and there's lovely views along the Rocks so recommend to come here and check out bring your hiking boots though it's a bit muddy [Music] oh [Music] so I'm just heading down to the twin beaches this apparently is one of the best beaches there's two beaches at the top on the North End of Gia so I'm really excited I've got my swimming stuff just in case I want to go in behind me in the distance you can also see the paths of jira it's so clear today it looks amazing and it's so funny to think I was just over there a few days ago [Music] so I made it to the twin beaches down here it's absolutely amazing it's really really warm I'm going to go in for a swim [Music] my last one was so good so so refreshing such a nice place to come for the day you can come over on the ferry in 20 minutes and spend the day here and I think on Fridays the last Friday back is it 6 30. [Music] I made some oats and I've put the blackberries that I picked yesterday so I'm bon appetit hopefully not in six no spiders are in The Blacklist really sour good though if you're traveling in Scotland in August September time and you see some blackberries definitely pick them and try them I'm staying on the Isle of gear for two nights and I'm staying at the campsite on the islands campsite is owned by the community and it opened last year in August 2022 so it's got everything you need really there's some spots with electric cooker some without there's an area for tents there's a shower block there's an area for doing dishes there's toilets and there's also a place where you can drop chemical toilet waste and also fill up your fresh water and drop your gray water there's also a shed as well which has a fridge for people who don't have a fridge like me and then there's also somewhere that you can charge all your electronics if you don't have the ability to charge anything it's got a lovely view as well it's looking right over the water and it's within walking distance to the town so if you wanted to go for dinner or pick up some things at the shop it's really easy to walk over there on the Isle of gear there is a dairy farm producing milk and ice cream so I started my day by heading there so I'm here at the wee aisle Dairy and this is the famous ice cream from the island I got two flavors I've never tried before we have Rambo and peat which is really interesting and then marmalade I don't actually like marmalade generally but I wanted to try the ice cream to see if it tastes different so let's try it then Bramble and Pete [Music] I've never heard of that before it reminds me of the Isla whiskey let's try the marmalade tastes just like marmalade but creamy because of the ice cream it's good it's better than real marmalade my favorite is the Bramble and people it's sweeter the marmalade is more because of the marmalade taste [Music] oh [Music] let's see what there's an honesty cake box and they have lots of yummy things Rocky Road tablet and shortbread there's also some hats down there and then looks like the loaves are sold out so this is from Scotland it's a very sweet version of fudge so I'll get one of these to try Kia has seen positive changes since the community took over the island still looks just as beautiful but facilities and infrastructure have steadily improved new award-winning housing has been built and existing houses have been renovated as part of an ongoing investment program the gear trust also sawed land so people could build homes which help both locals and newcomers the population has also increased with now over 170 people living on gear there are also more children on the school rule which is a good sign for the future next I'll explore the south end of the island so me and the tablet have reached the south of the island so this is the traditional Scottish tablet have you tried it before please let me know the best way to describe it is well the ingredients are sugar condensed milk butter whole milk and vanilla extract so it's yeah it's very very sweet full of sugar okay here is the tablet so there yeah you just need a little bit if you eat too much you'll feel sick it's very very sweet and quite sickly does anyone know if otters like tablet maybe I can entice them paddle boarding is so popular these days a lot of people are doing stand-up paddle boarding I even saw in Tesco when I was in Shetland they were selling the paddle boards inflatable ones [Music] foreign foreign [Music] Gardens it's absolutely stunning it's so peaceful I think I'm the only person here it's quite late in the afternoon but the flowers and the plants are just incredible and there's so many bees everywhere Ackerman Gardens is one of the most renowned attractions here on the Isle of giha and it has a fascinating history before the community buyout in 2002 the island had many different owners the Scarlet family purchased the Isle of geha in the 19th century and built akamore house and these Gardens and they planted hybrid Rhododendrons in 1944 Colonel Saint James Horlick from the malted drink family he purchased Atmore house and he worked with a garden designer to enhance the gardens even more and added in a lot of exotic and interesting plants from all over the globe since the community buyout in 2002 the Islanders have taken over the management of this Garden the gardens do really well because the climate here on giha is quite mild due to the Gulf Stream influence and there's also walls around the garden too let's go and explore more quite found I was just walking around the gardens and it looks like a bamboo maze are we in Japan or Scotland this is so cool let's go inside and have a look [Music] wow this is so exciting I think this is my favorite thing on the whole of the Isle of gear I don't know why I just love it we're almost out yeah we're at the end I could spend hours here there's so much to see all the amazing flowers apparently there's a really nice Viewpoint here at the Garden so I'm just about to arrive there now wow oh my goodness it's so beautiful so what's really amazing here is all the Woodland area there's so many amazing trees so peaceful here it's so nice [Music] so I was just heading back to the van and you won't believe it I finally saw an otter look [Music] to finish off my time on gear I headed to the famous Boathouse restaurant located near the campsite The Boathouse is known for its fresh seafood and its stunning location it's possible to arrive on gear by sailboats and there were many boats docked in the marina I ordered The Boathouse bunny Chow which seems to be a dish inspired from South Africa it was basically a chiabeta filled with seafood curry with banana Chutney on the side it was fantastic to enjoy my meal outside with the amazing views I've loved my time on the community-owned Isle of gear the community buyout is an inspiring example of how local residents can unite to protect their land culture and way of life by owning and managing it together gear is undeniably the most welcoming among the Scottish islands I've explored it's evident that life and projects here are driven by the common good like the new walking trails community on campsite and boat Moorings and the Dark Sky Theater my visit to this island has shown me that community-led efforts can bring about positive results for both people and the environment thank you for watching this video and if you'd like to see more of my Adventures exploring Scotland please subscribe to the channel see you next time

Channel: Ruth Aisling

Views: 42,721

Keywords: gigha, isle of gigha, scotland, visit scotland, community owned island, scotland vlog, community buy out, gigha island scotland, gigha island, isle of gigha how to get there, scottish island life, scottish islands, scotland vlog 2023, scotland travel, scotland bloggers, scottish islands documentary, best scottish islands, ruth aisling, Hebrides, west coast, kintyre, kintyre peninsula, twin beaches, ardmanish, Tayinloan, community ownership, achamore gardens, female travel

Id: W7Y9-M9qiDY

Length: 15min 46sec (946 seconds)

Published: Wed Sep 06 2023