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High Cluniter Smallholding, Dunoon (2026)

24/09/2026

Joey’s glow up 😆🐣➡️🐓

Hard to believe these two photos are the same little bird!

Joey was always the tiny runt of the bunch, and after his very first night outside, we genuinely thought we were going to lose him. He was absolutely freezing and barely hanging on.

I spent hours carrying this tiny chick tucked inside my fleece to warm him back up, then dropper feeding him little by little until eventually he started to come round.

At the time, we were just desperately trying to save the smallest little hen in our supposedly sexed batch… 🤣

Little did we know that not only was Joey going to make a full recovery, he was also going to turn out to be the ONE cockerel in the entire bunch 😂

And now look at him!

From the tiny runt who nearly didn’t make it through his first night outside to this big, handsome boy strutting around High Cluniter like he owns the place 🐓

Safe to say all those hours spent with a chick stuffed down my fleece were worth it. Nice cockerels really are worth their weight in gold. They look after their girls, keep an eye out for danger and somehow manage to keep a whole flock in order. Joey might have been the accidental boy of the bunch, but he’s turned into such a lovely one - and we’re very glad that little runt fought as hard as he did 🥹🐓❤️

Some glow up, Joey boy 😂

24/09/2026

These girls have been keeping us company for the past few months, but this weekend they’ll officially be joining our own flock 🐓🤍

As our older hens get older, their egg production naturally begins to slow down. They’ll still have their place here for as long as they’re happy and healthy, but bringing in younger birds helps keep our egg supply a bit more consistent throughout the year.

Before they settle in with the High Cluniter flock though, we wanted to give them one final chance to find homes of their own.

£25 each or 3 for £60

Any girls still here after the weekend will be staying with us 🤍

Send us a message if you’d like to reserve some before they become permanent residents! 🐓✨

Also, for any one who remembers young Joey, the little chick who almost didn’t make it, stay tuned to see his glow up. It’s quite impressive 😆🥰

19/09/2026

Not a huge amount of photographic evidence again, but a lot happened today 😂

We started the day saying goodbye to some more of our pullets as they headed off to their lovely new homes 🐓 It’s always so nice seeing them go off to people who are genuinely excited to have them.

Then it was back to the house.

Today’s progress:

🔩 Resin anchors set and everything bolted up on the wall plate
🔨 Joist hangers fixed on - with a PPN nail gun making life considerably easier 😂
🪵 Dwangs started
🪟 Spaces left ready for the skylights

Next up is framing out the skylights and building the gable ladder at the end of the extension.

It’s one of those stages where every individual job feels quite small, but then you stand back and realise there’s basically a roof structure above your head now 🤩

And of course Corran supervised proceedings. Very closely 😂🐶

Another day closer 🙌

13/09/2026

Well… that was another very High Cluniter kind of weekend 😅

Saturday was supposed to be a full day on the house. We had plans to get started early and finish the framing, instead we woke up to discover a blocked drain further up the hill had flooded one of our fields AND the sheep’s polytunnel 🥴 So before we could even think about the house, the morning was spent trying to get the drain unblocked, the water away and frantically rescuing our hay and straw before it all ended up soaked. Never a dull moment here 😂

Eventually we made it back to what we were actually supposed to be doing and somehow still managed to have a really productive day. We finished the framing, got the ply on and then wrapped everything in the membrane. We finally stopped at around 10pm… absolutely knackered, but so happy with how different it suddenly looks 🙌

Then Sunday arrived and apparently we still hadn’t learned how weekends are supposed to work 🤣

A few more of our hens headed off to their new homes, we squeezed in a tip run and then headed away to clean one of the hydro schemes we help look after. Of course the kids came along too, so naturally what was a job for us became an opportunity for them to explore the hills and heather. Not a bad place to spend a Sunday lunchtime 💛

Then it was back home and straight back onto the house. We started removing the the old soffit, got part of the wall plate on and everything is now ready to start the back sections roof joists tomorrow! 🙌

And because apparently sheep breeding season doesn’t care that we’re building a house, we also did the final preparations for the ewes going in with the tups tomorrow 🐑😆🥰

So tomorrow is a pretty exciting day at High Cluniter…

The roof starts going on the house and tupping officially begins 🏠🐑

One day we’ll have a relaxing weekend.

Just definitely not yet 🤣

10/09/2026

One of this year’s biggest lessons… stop throwing away little bits of beeswax! 🐝

Until fairly recently, I genuinely hadn’t appreciated just how much we could actually do with the wax from our own hives. So tonight I’ve been rendering down the small amount I did save into a proper little block ready to store and use later.

It definitely isn’t much and part of me gets annoyed with myself when I realise there was so much more I could have kept.

But I think the smallholding has taught me something really important over the last couple of years - sometimes you just have to jump in, do your best with what you know at the time, and learn as you go.

The first year you try something, you might spend too much, waste more than you’d like, buy the wrong thing or realise six months later there was a much easier way to do it. But then the next year you know better. You become more efficient, more confident and hopefully make a few less mistakes.

I think that’s true of almost everything we’ve done here so far - sheep, chickens, bees, firewood, the land, building a house…

So yes, this year’s beeswax block might be tiny, but next year I’ll be keeping every useful bit I can 🐝💛

And the plan for this little lot? Having a go at making our own beeswax lip balms. Even this tiny amount should still make a wee batch, so it’s definitely got me thinking that this might be something we do more of in future 👀

Every year we learn a little more 💫

09/09/2026

🌿 A little local plea… we’re looking for more land! 🐑

As High Cluniter continues to grow, we’re starting to keep our eyes open for a little more grazing locally.

We’re looking for around 5–10 acres (although we’d happily consider more or less) in the Innellan/Toward/Dunoon/Sandbank area, either to buy or on a longer-term lease.

It doesn’t need to be perfect! Rough grazing, fields that haven’t been used for a while, or land that needs a bit of work could all be of interest. We’re quite happy fencing, improving pasture and generally getting stuck in 😂

It would mainly be used to give our wee flock of sheep some more space as the smallholding grows 🐑🤍

Land adjoining or very close to High Cluniter, Innellan would obviously be the absolute dream, but we’d love to hear about anything locally.

We know that little parcels of land often never make it as far as being advertised, so we thought there was no harm in asking. If you have some land you no longer use, or know somebody who might be open to a chat about selling or leasing, please send us a private message.

Absolutely no pressure or commitment - we’d just love to have a conversation 😊

And please feel free to share locally. You never know what’s sitting right under your nose! 🤞🌿🐑

08/09/2026

I think some things are just meant to be 💛

Earlier this year, we did actually think about selling Norrie. At the time we couldn’t see how we could make it work keeping our own tup. We advertised him and were a little surprised that we didn’t seem to get much interest.

Then a couple of weeks ago I discovered I had about 20 messages from people wanting to buy him sitting in my spam folder 🤦‍♀️🤣

By that point though, it was far too late. There was absolutely no chance he was going anywhere. And the more I think about it, the more I feel like perhaps he was always meant to stay with us 🥹

Norrie’s mum is Maggie, a ewe who we bought in lamb late last year. My big sister, Rebecca, named Maggie while she was ill. My sister then passed away on the 20th January, and just a couple of weeks later, on the 31st, Norrie was born 🧡

Maybe it’s because of that connection, or maybe it’s simply because he’s Norrie, but there has always been something about this boy that feels incredibly special. When he comes over for his cuddles, he presses himself right into me, flops down beside me and just looks at me. Sometimes I swear it feels like he’s trying to tell me something. I realise that makes me sound slightly mad 🤣 but there’s something in those eyes that I just can’t put into words.

He has a heart of gold. He’s gentle, affectionate, completely trusting and would happily get cuddles and scratches for as long as I’m willing to give them. And underneath all that fluff and personality, he’s grown into a cracking example of a Valais too. We’re so excited to hopefully meet his first lambs next year, and if we have slightly more time we might even take him to a show or two 🐑

So maybe those 20 messages disappearing into my spam folder did us a favour after all 😂

Norrie was always meant to stay at High Cluniter. Whatever happens in the future, this is his home for life. There is absolutely no chance we’ll ever part with him now 💛

08/09/2026

🐓 Our final pullets of 2026 🐓

Our first lot of girls are heading off to their new homes on Thursday 🥹🏡 which means we now have just 21 pullets remaining for this year!

These girls will be 16 weeks old and are fully vaccinated and professionally sexed. They’re a lovely mix of breeds, including:

🐓 White Sussex
🐓 Silver Sussex
🐓 ISA Browns
🐓 Blacktails
🐓 Rhode Rocks
🐓 Copper Marans
🐓 Leghorns
🐓 Bluebells
🐓 Speckledys

💛 £25 each

📍 Collection from High Cluniter Smallholding, £5 per order to cover transport boxes
🚗 Local delivery available for £10, including transport boxes

We won’t be getting any more pullets in this year, so these are our last girls available until we start again in spring.

Any hens that aren’t reserved within the next week or so will simply be staying here and joining our own laying flock - so they’ve got a lovely home waiting for them either way 🥹🥰 And on the plus side, it’ll mean even more High Cluniter eggs! 🥚

If you’d like to reserve any of the remaining girls, just send us a message 💛

06/09/2026

What a difference a few days make! 🏡🔨

After what feels like forever working below ground level - digging, foundations, blockwork, hardcore, insulation, membranes and concrete - we’ve finally reached the stage where things suddenly start looking very different, very quickly!

On Saturday we got the sole and wall plates on and started building the timber frames. We’ve carried on with them today too… in between stopping to split firewood orders, because apparently one project at a time would be far too sensible for us 🤣🪵

We know a lot of people would normally sheet and wrap the frames while they’re lying flat before lifting them, but we decided to do ours a little differently. There are only two of us lifting them and, with the weather we get up here, we weren’t particularly keen on creating giant sails and trying to wrestle them upright in the wind 😂💨

So we’re getting the frames up and secured first, then working our way around with the ply. Back to the builders’ merchant tomorrow for the breather paper and hopefully we’ll get all of that on tomorrow night too🤞

It’s definitely not the quickest or easiest thing we’ve ever decided to do, especially while trying to keep the smallholding running alongside it, but seeing the actual shape of the rooms, windows and doors appearing is so satisfying.

After months of doing jobs that take an enormous amount of work and then basically disappear underneath the house, this feels like a pretty big milestone.

We might actually be building a house after all! 🤣🏡

02/09/2026

A little beginning of September catch up 🌿

We’re still here! Just slightly exhausted and apparently incapable of sitting still 😂 There’s actually so much happening at the moment…

🐑 The girls are in the process of being brought into season and in the next couple of weeks we’ll start our first properly planned tupping with our own boys. We’re so excited to see how they get on!

We’ve also decided to shear everyone ourselves this time in preparation - just Nash left to do tonight. Happy 40th birthday Calum! Here, have a sheep to shear 🤣🎈

Although the sheep did throw us a little surprise last week. The concrete had finally been poured for the house and we thought we might actually get to chill that evening…

Then I went to give Norrie a cuddle and discovered the poor boy had a little patch of flystrike 🤢😭 So instead of relaxing, our evening was spent clipping wool and getting rid of maggots. Smallholding life really is glamorous 🤣 Thankfully we caught it so early that Norrie barely seemed to notice and he was completely back to himself within a couple of days ❤️

🐓 Our final pullets of 2026 will be ready for their new homes from the 10th September. We still have 21 girls available to reserve and we’re actually really excited to see them heading off to their new flocks 🥰

🪵 We’ve also finally got a log splitter! Our lovely neighbour very kindly gave us an old one that needed a bit of work and we finally got around to fixing it this week. Honestly… life changing 😂 Lots of firewood is being processed at the moment ready to head out next week.

🐝 The bees are getting their final sugar syrup feeds of the year throughout this month and we’re starting to get all four colonies prepared for their first winter with us. How we went from one colony to four this year still feels slightly ridiculous 🤣

And finally… 🏡

After what feels like forever working at ground level, tomorrow we’re going to collect timber to start framing the house! We think seeing it finally start going upwards is going to feel very, very real.

Looks like September is going to be another busy one - who would of guessed?! 😆

High Cluniter Smallholding

24/09/2026

24/09/2026

19/09/2026

13/09/2026

10/09/2026

09/09/2026

08/09/2026

08/09/2026

06/09/2026

02/09/2026

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