Auchencairn Tea, Dumfries & Galloway

Poppy and Henry Baggott

Our tea plantation is located in a walled garden on our livestock farm in South West Scotland, overlooking the Solway Firth.  Previous incumbents of the garden following its Victorian heyday as a fruit orchard were a crop of Christmas trees, some pheasants, and a herd of wild boar. 

Summer 2017 was a time of uncertainty in farming, with the Prime Minister triggering Article 50 to begin the process of Brexit, and innovation and diversification were at the forefront of agriculture.  Having just had our second child, and moved back home from Edinburgh we were looking for a project, and so decided to overhaul the walled garden and plant 500 tea plants, thereby diversifying and utilising an otherwise wasted space.

The overhaul was arduous, but once done, the garden looked fantastic!  The first few years were a real learning curve, we suffered from frost and snow, so put shrub guards and fleecy coats on the tea, we battled black fly, carefully washing 500 plants with a fairy liquid solution, and latterly we have had to cope with drought, which was unexpected in SW Scotland!  

However, seven years on, our plants are starting to look like they want to live without too much coddling, we have learned a huge amount about gardening, tea growing, tasting and processing, and met some great like minded folk.  Perhaps rather whimsically, I like to think that I can taste the essence of the sea in our tea, reflecting our own coastal location and that of many of the other tea growers around Scotland who have collaborated to co create ‘The Gathering’ and ‘Blackhouse’ our first unique and hard won offering to a tea loving nation!