About Shandon Farm, Croftamie
Shandon Farm, Croftamie should not to be confused with the Shandon Farm just outside Drymen which is a bed and breakfast establishment. Shandon Farm Croftamie is where Appletree Cottage Luxury Self Catering Cottage is situated and where our apple orchard of 360 trees is planted. Needless to say neither farm is near the village of Shandon which is on the Clyde coast! Quite confusing to some delivery drivers.
Shandon Farm on which the cottage is situated, appears on maps dating back to 1746 although is quite possibly earlier than that (research is ongoing). The barn with the red roof adjacent to the road is one of the oldest and dates back to this time if not before. The farmhouse was originally as a single storey dwelling around the time of the ancient stone barns. However, in 1910 it was remodelled and acquired its second floor. The signatures of the joiners who built the roof are on the underside of the parking dated the first of August 1910
The farm was at one time mixed. Aerial photographs from 1946 show fields of arable and livestock. In more recent times Shandon was a dairy farm of some 140 acres. In 2009 much of the pasture was sold off to a local land owner and the farmhouse, steadings and around 4.5 acres of land were bought by a couple intending to develop the site into a large house and garden.
However, the property lay empty for over three years and by the time Murray and Alli, the present owners, acquired the farm in 2013 it was semi derelict. Since then ,the buildings have been restored and refurbished – an activity very much still ongoing!
The farmhouse took three months to make habitable again and in March 2014 we were able to move in. Immediately we started planting apple trees. 100 at first. We have planted every year since and now have ;360 apple trees in the ground. The first crop from some (not all) of the trees was in 2017. This was pressed into apple juice, pasteurised, bottled and sold at charity events. Since then, the crop has grown, more trees have borne fruit and products have been extended from apple juice to jellies and marmalades. Soon we hope to expand into Cider (Hard Cider to USA folk) Production. Watch this space!
The site of Appletree Cottage was once an open barn (still visible on Google Street Map(!). This had disappeared by the time Murray and Alli had bought the property, as had a state-of-the-art cow shed which used to be down by the gate onto the field south of the cottage. In order to give the cottage access to the stunning views it now has, the brick barn with the grey tin roof was shortened by two thirds and a Waney Edge timber gable end with doors installed on the west end to seal it up again.
Appletree Cottage was completed in 2016. It was specially designed for the self-catering market. Much effort was made to ensure that guests would be comfortable in four fully en-suite bedrooms and large open plan underfloor heated living area. It was also build to be eco-friendly and in addition to the cottage's great insulating properties the hot water and heating in the cottage (and farmhouse) are fed by a district biomass heating system powered by burning logs which are delivered in bulk from local forests then sawn, split and dried on site. Installation of solar panels to power the cottage was completed in 2022 and further solar panels are planned for the farm.
There is a lot of wildlife in this area. Nowadays there are no animals on the farm at present but wild deer, pheasants and other wild life are easily spotted including 35 species of wild birds (see blog page)
We hope you enjoy your stay here
Shandon Farm on which the cottage is situated, appears on maps dating back to 1746 although is quite possibly earlier than that (research is ongoing). The barn with the red roof adjacent to the road is one of the oldest and dates back to this time if not before. The farmhouse was originally as a single storey dwelling around the time of the ancient stone barns. However, in 1910 it was remodelled and acquired its second floor. The signatures of the joiners who built the roof are on the underside of the parking dated the first of August 1910
The farm was at one time mixed. Aerial photographs from 1946 show fields of arable and livestock. In more recent times Shandon was a dairy farm of some 140 acres. In 2009 much of the pasture was sold off to a local land owner and the farmhouse, steadings and around 4.5 acres of land were bought by a couple intending to develop the site into a large house and garden.
However, the property lay empty for over three years and by the time Murray and Alli, the present owners, acquired the farm in 2013 it was semi derelict. Since then ,the buildings have been restored and refurbished – an activity very much still ongoing!
The farmhouse took three months to make habitable again and in March 2014 we were able to move in. Immediately we started planting apple trees. 100 at first. We have planted every year since and now have ;360 apple trees in the ground. The first crop from some (not all) of the trees was in 2017. This was pressed into apple juice, pasteurised, bottled and sold at charity events. Since then, the crop has grown, more trees have borne fruit and products have been extended from apple juice to jellies and marmalades. Soon we hope to expand into Cider (Hard Cider to USA folk) Production. Watch this space!
The site of Appletree Cottage was once an open barn (still visible on Google Street Map(!). This had disappeared by the time Murray and Alli had bought the property, as had a state-of-the-art cow shed which used to be down by the gate onto the field south of the cottage. In order to give the cottage access to the stunning views it now has, the brick barn with the grey tin roof was shortened by two thirds and a Waney Edge timber gable end with doors installed on the west end to seal it up again.
Appletree Cottage was completed in 2016. It was specially designed for the self-catering market. Much effort was made to ensure that guests would be comfortable in four fully en-suite bedrooms and large open plan underfloor heated living area. It was also build to be eco-friendly and in addition to the cottage's great insulating properties the hot water and heating in the cottage (and farmhouse) are fed by a district biomass heating system powered by burning logs which are delivered in bulk from local forests then sawn, split and dried on site. Installation of solar panels to power the cottage was completed in 2022 and further solar panels are planned for the farm.
There is a lot of wildlife in this area. Nowadays there are no animals on the farm at present but wild deer, pheasants and other wild life are easily spotted including 35 species of wild birds (see blog page)
We hope you enjoy your stay here