Where we are, What we do
An Gàrradh Mòr is the historic high-walled kitchen garden at Cille Bhrìghde [Kilbride] on the island of South Uist, in Scotland’s Outer Hebrides. It is the only such walled garden in these islands with its walls intact, and the only such garden used for its original purpose - to supply the needs of the household.
Just a few paces from the shore, the garden looks out over the Sound of Barra and the many islands scattered across an ever-changing canvas of sea and sky. This is where we live and work.
Here at the walled garden and our croft on the nearby island of Eriskay, we grow a wide variety of vegetables, herbs and soft fruit, and also keep chickens, geese and sheep. These together provide almost all the food we need and - certainly from late spring through to autumn - a modest surplus besides.
Eat fresh, Buy local
According to the time of year, and as available, we sell -
- Free-Range Eggs - hen (year-round) and goose (early spring only)
- Jams, Marmalades, Chutneys and other preserves
- Lemon Curd - freshly made, April to September only
- Hogget Lamb (18m-2yrs old) from our own flock of Hebridean sheep - Roasting joints, chops and more
- Soft fruit - gooseberries, rhubarb, blackcurrants ...
- Vegetables and salads - tomatoes, courgettes, carrots, onions, peas in the pod, broad beans, lettuce, ...
- Herbs - parsley, chives, fennel, dill, rosemary, sage, ...
A notice board by the south gate shows what’s currently available, but it does vary day by day, and even in the course of a single day - especially during the busy summer school holidays.
An Gàrradh Mòr is first and foremost our private home and garden, but if you’d like to look round the garden, just ask when you pay for your purchases.
There’s generally somebody at home, but if you’re travelling some distance you might want to phone first to avoid disappointment. Call 01878 700828 or email mail@biggarden.co.uk
The Garden
The half-acre walled garden is worked according to organic principles. We see a three-fold justification in this: environment, health, and quality. There can be no doubt whatsoever that our organically-grown potatoes, cabbages or whatever, fresh from the garden, are far tastier and more nutritious than anything that can be bought in a supermarket or retailer, anywhere, at any price. And how can working only with natural materials entirely of this place be anything other than good for the health of ourselves and the environment?
Crops are inter-planted and rotated so that the soil does not become exhausted, and to resist pests and diseases. In early Spring the soil is fed with a compost comprised of seaweed from the shore outside, garden and kitchen waste and soiled straw animal bedding. We sow more than we need, so that if a few seedlings are lost to pests, disease or extreme weather, we have replacements. When propagating, too - whether fruit bushes or trees and shrubs for shelter and ornament, we have to allow for a high proportion of losses to the harsh weather. Thus we often end up with more than we can use, and so there'll often be shrubs and plants for sale at the garden 'shop’.
Certainly, there isn't a single day of the year when the majority of the food on our plates isn't from the garden, and the very best the season has to offer: whether that be mouth-watering tomatoes or strawberries, fresh-picked rocket or lettuce, tasty parsnip or artichoke, irresistible jams with gooseberry or rhubarb, or a glass or two of blackberry wine. We’re happy to offer you a taste of our own plentiful harvest!
The Croft
Our croft on the nearby island of Eriskay is a long narrow strip, totalling about 15 acres, running from the rocky north shore of the island for about half a mile to the rocky buttresses of Beinn Sciathan, Eriskay’s highest point. From the shore (with its plentiful supply of seaweed for fertlizing the ground) and the ‘new’ road is the most productive part of the croft, with finer sweeter grasses, soft fruit, the hen houses and croft store. Here too is the eco croft house we built 2008-2009 (which currently we let out as a self-catering holiday cottage).
Our hens and geese have free-range over the lower croft - including the shore with its many tasty morsels amongst the seaweed. The hens are mostly Welsumer, but also Orpingtons (mostly Buff), Cream Crested Legbar, Scots Dumpy, and others. Our white Embden geese are left pretty much to their own devices, but in spring they provide a limited supply of huge and very tasty eggs ; and in autumn the freezer is re-stocked with goose.
Above the ‘new’ road and up to the hill fence the croft heather, grasses and low-growing herbs, and - especially in spring and early summer - wild flowers, orchids, and amongst these many ground-nesting birds. In 2012 we enclosed the ‘middle’ croft - between the new and old roads - and started fencing all of the ‘upper’ croft from the old road up to the hill fence. Although very expensive - and absolutely exhausting work, investment in these fences is the key to making our croft productive and economically relevant in today’s world.
The middle and upper croft - together amounting to three-quarters of the total area, will enclose our flock of pedigree Hebridean sheep which we keep both for their black wool and for their meat. Being native to the islands and very hardy, they are ideally suited to the extreme conditions here. The slower maturing of this ancient breed, combined with the completely natural grazing, gives incomparable flavour and texture to the meat; whilst the lack of need for routine treatment with medicines, makes it naturally organic and healthy.
Quality pedigree Hebridean lambs are available for purchase, generally in autumn, and pure-bred hatching eggs in winter. Please enquire.
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In the 5th century, St Birgid - daughter of an Irish Prince and a contemporary of St Patrick - landed on the beach right here - with an oyster-catcher perched on each wrist. A chapel - now long since vanished - was dedicated to her, and from this comes Cille Bhrìghde in Gaelic, or Kilbride in English - both meaning Chapel of Bride. It is thought that the word Hebrides is from old Norse, meaning ‘Isles of Bride’.
