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 FROM LATE SUMMER 2020, MORE INFO AND BOOKING ON OUR AIRBNB PAGE
About our place
We are Black Isle Permaculture & Arts (BIPA), a micro-smallholding on the Black Isle, 13km north of Inverness in the Highlands of Scotland. Run by Clive and Julie, we offer eco tourist accomodation, courses, workshops and volunteering opportunities covering a variety of topics focusing on sustainable living, such as Permaculture design, organic food growing and preserving.
What is our Permaculture smallholding
The household and gardens are being transformed using Permaculture design and techniques to create an ecologically balanced habitat for food, wood fuel, habitat, well-being, abundant foraging, leisure and education and livelihood.
On the 2.5 acre garden and woodland micro-smallholding, we are able to live a creative, sustainable and resilient lifestyle by the Permaculture Principles of People Care, Earth Care and Fair Share: 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, a livelihood, but also habitat 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 to encourage insects and pollinators, and six 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, materials reusing and wood processing for fuel.
On-site, we have built a compost toilet and a Yurt for use during events and workshops, and from 2020, two eco camping cabins for guests wanting a sustainable, Permaculture inspired 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 2021. Please contact us if you’d like to visit or look out for details of events on this site.
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