Drumdow Farm, Kirkcolm, Stranraer, Dumfries and Galloway, South West Scotland, DG9

SITUATION
Drumdow Farm is situated in an elevated position near the northwest coast of the Rhins of Galloway peninsula and located 2 miles from the small village of Kirkcolm and 6 miles from Stranraer. Kirkcolm has a primary school, church, community hub and two hotels.

Stranraer has a wider range of amenities including primary schools a secondary school, hospital (Galloway Community Hospital), offices, shops including three supermarkets, restaurants, and various leisure facilities including a marina.

The delightful fishing and sailing village of Portpatrick is about 12 miles south of Kirkcolm, a very popular seaside location which attracts visitors all year round. There are a number of shops, a primary school, church, putting green, beachfront hotels & restaurants.

Communications to the area are very good with the A75 trunk road providing quick access from the south via the M6, A74 and M74. The ferry links to Northern Ireland run from Cairnryan, which is approximately 14 miles from Drumdow. Glasgow international airport is approximately 98 miles from the property.

DESCRIPTION

Drumdow Farm is a well renowned beef rearing farm, winning the Scotch Beef Farm of the Year Award in 2016. The farm runs a calving herd of 220 cows and heifers, known as Black Baldies, all calving to Hereford and Angus bulls. All cows and bulls are outwintered on a 52 hectare moor, making the best use of the unique topography of the region to its best advantage. The current system had cows that are home-bred with heifers joining the herd calving as two-year-olds. The farm has an active Facebook Page ‘Drumdow Black Baldies’ which showcases the farms activities. The farm also had 200 easycare ewes and gimmers across the holding as well as taking on wintering for 150 Blackface lambs. As one of the finest farms in the North Rhins of Galloway, Drumdow offers an excellent opportunity to undertake productive activity in this early grass, gulf stream influenced part of the UK, which is synonymous with producing some of the best livestock and produce in the UK.

The farm is a well-equipped beef and sheep unit, which could support an array of stock rearing enterprises.

DRUMDOW FARM

Farmhouse
Drumdow Farm Farmhouse is an excellent comfortable farmhouse, constructed 1994, under a slate roof enjoying a south easterly aspect.

The accommodation arranged over two floors, as shown in the accompanying floorplan, comprises:

Ground Floor: Entrance Hall, Utility Room, Boiler / Drying Room, Farm Office, Sun Room, Kitchen / Dining Room, Staircase Hall, Sitting Room, Snug.

First Floor: Master Bedroom Suite, Three Double Bedrooms, Bathroom, Cupboards.

The adjoining former traditional steading building has been partially converted to provide an occasional bar and entertaining area, with a bathroom and stores, but is not a permanently habitable feature of the property.

FARM BUILDINGS

Drumdow Farm is a very well-equipped holding, with a farming system that makes the most of the land across the farm, from wintering the cattle on the moor to highly productive grassland for silage and grazing, with rotational crop fields for fodder production if desired. The excellent range of buildings lie to the north of the farmhouse with a sizeable courtyard area to the rear of the house, with traditional and modern buildings and stores, with modern stock housing and bespoke cattle handling yard adjacent (the cattle crush is available by separate negotiation). The steading benefits from three phase electricity.

In accordance with the enclosed steading plan, the farm buildings comprise:

A traditional U-shaped range which has been well maintained and is used for a variety of purposes. They are predominantly of stone and slate construction with concrete floors.

Log Store - 2.5m x 4.8m

Covered Car Port - 4.6m x 7.8m

Byre - 15.7m x 4.1m

Two Storey Byre

This traditional building has a workshop (10.1m x 4.9m) and store (5.3m x 5.6m) on the ground, and a large 1st floor storage area (16.3m x 3.9m) which houses the controls and meters for the wind turbine.

Kennels – 12.2m x 4.9m

Calf Housing – 23.0m x 6.7m

Benefiting from a modern box profile roof, this traditional stone building has been upgraded to provide youngstock loose housing.

Modern Buildings

Lean-To Cattle Court – 21.9m x 12.71m

Stone and block walls with Yorkshire board and box profile cladding, fibre cement roof and feed barrier.

General Purpose Shed – 10.35m x 27.14m

Currently used as a feed and grain store, this GP shed is of modern steel portal frame construction with block walls, concrete floor, fibre cement roof and box profile cladding.

Cattle Shed 1 – 26.78m x 27.19m

Separated into four internal sections with a central feed passage. The building is constructed of a concrete frame, walls and floor, fibre cement cladding and roof and Yorkshire board gable cladding.

Cattle Shed 2 – 54.84m x 12.54m

Open on one side with feed barriers and concrete external path, this shed provides cattle housing and storage. It is constructed of concrete shutter walls, steel portal frame, vent air and Yorkshire board cladding, and fibre cement roof.

Covered Handling Facility – 13.93m x 5.74m

Currently housing a crush, it is constructed of steel portal frame, concrete walls and floors, box profile cladding and fibre cement roof.

Nissen Style Store

Small tin cylindrical building used for storage with brick base.

Shed at Bankswell – 26.24m x 10.47m

A general purpose building currently used as a straw and machinery store. It is constructed of stone and block walls, with steel portal frame, tin cladding, tin and box profile roof and earth floor.

THE TURBINE

A 100Kw WES (Wind Energy Systems) Wind Turbine was erected in 2012 and provides a useful income to the farm, exporting around 200,000Kw per annum (weather and operation dependant) which returns around £100,000 in income through export and Feed in Tariff. There are associated insurance and maintenance costs, but the benefit to the farm has been significant, and around 12 years of the 25 operations contract remains.

THE LAND

The agricultural land at Drumdow Farm extends to approximately 553.63 acres (224.05 ha). The land is bisected by the B738 minor public road which leased south (becoming the B798) to Stranraer. The land is predominantly Grade 3(2) and Grade 4, with smaller areas of Grade 5 and 6 according to the James Hutton Institute with the fields all benefiting from a southerly aspect. The land rises from approximately 50m to 85m above sea level at its highest point. The average rainfall for the region is between 1000mm to 1500mm annually. The fields are of a good practical size, predominantly enclosed by stone dykes and fences, accessed both from the public road and an internal farm track to the east (to the Turbine) and to the west across the moor. The majority of the fields have mains water troughs, with the remainder having a natural supply.

The is currently used for arable and silage cropping with permanent grazing supporting the current livestock enterprise.

EPC Rating = D