Fiona and John Scott farm in partnership with John’s parents, Janet and James. John and Fiona’s four children, James (22), Izzy (20), Lexie (18) and Archie (15) play an active role in the farming enterprise.
John and Fiona also run Scott Farming Ltd which is made up of 50 head of Pedigree Luing Cattle to produce breeding stock along with native bred finishing cattle.
John is the fourth generation of his family to farm at Fearn. He obtained an HND in agriculture in Edinburgh before travelling to NZ. John was awarded a Nuffield Farming Scholarship in 2005.
In 2014, John was announced as the Farmers Weekly ‘Sheep Farmer of the Year’ and 2013 ‘Future Farmer of the Year’. He is a former Quality Meat Scotland board member and has chaired the Scottish Sheep Sector Review for the Scottish Government.
Fiona is originally from a family farm in Caithness and moved to Fearn over 20 years ago originally working for Highland Rural Business Services before leaving to start a family and take a more active role in the farming enterprise and more recently leading on the agritourism development.
Fiona is the Destination Leader for the Highlands for Scottish Agritourism.
Both John and Fiona are Scottish Enterprise Rural Leaders.
Fearn Farm is a low-lying farm based on the Tarbat Peninsula, Easter Ross, approximately 35 miles north of Inverness in the Scottish Highlands. Fearn Farm is the Agritourism Monitor Farm for the Highlands and Islands Enterprise Area.
Fearn Farm is 3 miles from the A9 and the North Coast 500 route.
‘The Mill at Fearn Farm’ is on-farm luxury holiday accommodation, which opened in March 2020.
The property consists of two houses with an internal joining door – ‘The Mill’ and ‘The Wee End’ – which can be booked separately or in conjunction.
The Mill at Fearn Farm has been graded 4 star by Visit Scotland. The accommodation can host 14 guests in total.
As part of the agritourism monitor farms programme, the Scott family are looking at scaling up their agritourism activity and developing a new agritourism venture.
In recent years Fearn farm has increased in size with 466 ha owned at Fearn Farm itself and 560 ha rented across Easter Ross and Sutherland.
The business produces Scotch Beef and Scotch lamb and also rears and sell pedigree sheep and cattle for breeding.
The farm grows cereals, forage crops and grass for the pedigree and commercial cattle & sheep and arable enterprise. The cropping consists of malting spring barley, winter wheat, spring oats, peas, fodder beet, swedes, kale and stubble turnips, with the forage crops playing a vital role in winter livestock management.
During the programme, the Scott Family will focus on
