DUE TO COVID-19 WE ARE UNABLE TO HOST VOLUNTEERS OR RUN OUR PLANNED WORKSHOPS AND EVENTS THIS YEAR, BUT WE HAVE OUR SMALL ‘SISKIN CABIN’ AVAILABLE FOR ECO FRIENDLY HOLIDAYS, MORE INFO AND BOOKING ON OUR AIRBNB PAGE

About our place

We are Black Isle Permaculture & Arts (BIPA), an ecological household, garden and woodland on the Black Isle, 13km north of Inverness in the Highlands of Scotland. Run by Clive and Julie, we offer off grid tourist accommodation, courses, workshops and volunteering opportunities covering a variety of topics focused on sustainable and regenerative living, such as forest gardening, organic food growing and preserving.

The household and gardens are being transformed using Permaculture design and techniques to create a balanced ecosystem for people, plants and animals while also adapting to the unfolding climate and ecological crisis. On the 2.5 acre garden and woodland, we aim to live a creative, sustainable and resilient lifestyle by the three simple principles of People Care, Earth Care and Future Care: a place where people can visit, stay, learn and share.

We have worked to create a place where we can live in a harmonious ecological balance which provides us with many of our needs: food, a comfortable place to live and stay, a livelihood, but also biodiversity and habitats for wildlife, and a place to share what we are learning. We have a mosaic of meadows, forest gardens, mixed woodland, a kitchen garden growing vegetables, salads, herbs, fruit, polycultures of wild flowers for insects and pollinators, and some free range hens. We use organic and no dig methods to create healthy soil, working with closed loop systems so nothing is wasted, either through composting, wormeries, mulching, reusing/upcycling materials, and wood processing for fuel.

On-site, we have built a compost toilet and a Yurt for use during events and workshops, and Siskin cabin for guests wanting an off grid, low impact holiday. We have used natural and organic materials to eco renovate the bungalow and installed renewable energies such as solar PV, solar hot water and biomass heating, as well as energy efficiency measures to reduce our energy consumption and carbon footprint. We have an arts and crafts studio where we work to create artwork and handmade products.

We welcome visitors by appointment, and hold open days, courses and workshops throughout the year. In 2020 we will offer eco friendly holiday accommodation in Siskin Cabin, situated in the woodland, with another due for completion in Spring 2021. Please contact us at hello@blackislepermacultureandarts.co.uk if you’d like to visit or look out for details of events on this site or our Facebook page @BIPASCOTLAND.