New NC500 beginnings and the best blanket in Europe...

We have made our official debut on the North Coast 500!

If you are an avid follower of NC500 on social media, you might have seen us featured and welcomed as a new official member. It feels delightful to be part of this wonderful community of Highland organisations on the route… and stand proud as the only textiles mill!

Amongst these many incredible independent businesses, I would like to give a special shout out to my favourite NC500 destination… a spot that is super friendly and caters to many needs… extremely rare…a fine and natural beauty…. It’s The Flow Country!

Stretching between Caithness and Sutherland, this is the largest expanse of blanket peat bog in Europe and has been building up since the last Ice Age, meaning there are thousands of years of peat build-up there. How about that for a special blanket!? Aside from being a thriving hub for wildlife, there is another reason why this spot is so special.

It is a natural carbon sink.

As long as the land remains wet (which shouldn’t be a problem with Scotland’s weather record) then it keeps carbon locked up inside and prevents further release of it as carbon dioxide into our atmosphere. Peat bogs can store more of the stuff than any other land-based eco-system, for example, The Flow Country alone keeps more than triple the amount of carbon found in the United Kingdom’s entire woodlands! This undoubtedly makes it extremely valuable in our fight against climate change.

If you would like to virtually experience the beauty of the best blanket in Europe then click here. It is preserved and maintained by The Peatlands Partnership - a collective of dedicated Scottish organisations who are currently taking steps to establish The Flow Country as the first peatland to be an official World Heritage Site 

Another one to add to the list of reasons why our wee Highlands, in wee Scotland, pack a BIG global punch.

Love Clare

x

PS ~ If you’re planning to do the North Coast 500, come and visit us at the mill to immerse yourself in the Prickly Thistle tartan experience. Bookings are free of charge and we are dog-friendly