Bamff is a small estate in the uplands of North East Perthshire on the highland boundary fault-line. It consists of 1300 acres of farmland, woodland, wetland and hill. It has been owned by the Ramsay family since the year 1232 after being given to an ancestor by King Alexander II of Scotland as a reward for saving his life. Bamff has its own little hills, Hilton, and Balduff.
Paul and Louise Ramsay and their daughter Sophie and her partner Dave Maric and their daughter Flora, live here, along with several other families in flats and cottages. Sophie’s three brothers visit regularly and take a close interest in the estate. The farming, carried out by neighbour Andrew Mitchell, and his son Peter, is organic – mainly sheep and cattle.
Bamff has become known for its fascinating beaver project and abundant wildlife and attracts many wildlife enthusiasts and experts throughout the year. Around one third of the estate is woodland and the beavers have created a large area of wetland and pools. The beaver demonstration project at Bamff was the first of its kind in the UK. The European beaver, hunted to extinction in the UK in the 16th century is now reintroduced to Scotland and since May 1st, 2019, has become a protected species. Bamff has now embarked on a pioneering rewilding project. Sheep have been taken off twelve fields and along with six woods they have been enclosed by a perimeter fence into a Wildland area with 20 cattle, 3 pigs and 11 ponies. Please read more on the Wildland website: here.
Philosophy
We face a crisis unprecedented in the history of human civilisation, with climate change and biodiversity loss accelerating around the globe. The biodiversity crisis in the UK is happening at one of the fastest rates in the world.
At Bamff, we are doing all we can to create wildlife habitat – to restore nature’s abundance and to sequester carbon.
We offer accommodation to guests not just to fund our work and share the joy of staying in a place of abundant wildlife, but also to show how the restoration of the land for wildlife can also create opportunities for people.
Rewilding Plans
Having introduced beavers in 2002 and seen what an astonishing and positive transformation they have made to former agricultural ditches and artificial ponds, we then expanded the rewilding of Bamff to an area of 450 acres of fields, wetlands and woods.
Climate Action
Bamff House (or castle), its flats and holiday apartment are heated by a wood-chip district heating scheme. The main house is supplied with electricity by our own wind turbine. Many of the houses on the estate have wood-burning stoves and some have heating systems supplemented by wood from a back boiler. Through a combination of renewable energy use and carbon sequestration through woodlands and wetlands, Bamff estate is contributing to climate change mitigation.
Flourishing wildlife
Visitors to Bamff will find much wildlife flourishing on the estate. Planted and naturally regenerated native woodlands on the low ground are full of birds and small mammals, and on the hill the establishment of new native pinewoods is underway. This approach is being integrated with an eighteenth century planned landscape whose fine old trees give great beauty to the surroundings of the house.
There are many species of bird seen at Bamff. There are also a lot of wild mammals including roe deer, occasional fallow and red deer, hares, rabbits, foxes, badgers, stoats, weasels, pole cats, pine martens, red squirrels, otters, water voles, beavers, hedgehogs, mice, shrews, voles and possibly wild cats.
Some of these animals are very elusive, but you are very likely to see roe deer, and quite likely to see squirrels and rabbits, but less likely to catch a glimpse of a pine marten. Otters are not an uncommon sight, especially for beaver watchers. You may be lucky and see a water vole.
Walks
You can walk anywhere on the Estate and there are two or three lovely walks that take from 20-40 minutes. The Cateran Trail is feted in Observer Magazine’s 10 best long-distance walks in UK, One of our holiday lets, The Hideaway, is situated on the Trail and is featured in the article. You can walk to Alyth via the Hill of Alyth and return by the Den o’ Alyth (or vice versa). Its around 3 miles each way. Alyth has a hotel, pubs, cafes, a local butcher, traditional grocer, and a wee museum. Kirkton of Glenisla is a 9 mile walk and Bridge of Cally around 6 miles. Both have pubs.
Family
Bamff estate is run by the Ramsay family. Paul and Louise share the oversight of the whole and Sophie runs the wildland project. Sophie’s partner Dave Maric photographs and monitors the wildland whilst managing our social media and websites, he is also rehabilitating the old walled garden.
Generally Paul will meet you when you arrive and either Paul or Louise usually guide the walks.
Bamff Wildland Rules regarding grazing herds
1. Do not closely approach any of the grazing mammals (pigs, cattle and ponies), or expect to be able to have any physical contact with any of them.
2. Never, under any circumstances, attempt to feed any of these animals.
3. Keep dogs on leads at all times.
4. Limit the top speed of any vehicle to 15mph along the Bamff drives.
4. Limit the top speed of any vehicle to 15mph along the Bamff drives.
The Tamworth Pigs sometimes have other ideas – they can be somewhat boisterous and can enthusiastically approach people. One or two of the ponies can occasionally tentatively approach people. But these animals can bite and kick, and the herds are there to be resilient, rather than dependant, hence all the above rules must be followed.
We hope you enjoy witnessing these beasts as much as we do.