Spend some time in the Big Sky Country

Out and about in the North-East and Highlands last week, I got a bit of what the Americans call “Big Sky Country”.

Travelling from Aberdeen to the Cairngorms, I drove from glinting granite to rolling green farmland, with mixed and arable turning to hill farms as the ground rose. Finally the road hairpinned up to open moorland, reaching over the height of the Lecht – we were in high country with a massive blue sky all around.

I’ve recently devoured Yellowstone, the US TV series which sees Kevin Costner playing patriarch John Dutton, doing anything and everything on all sides of the law to secure the future of his family’s Montana ranch. (Montana is known as the Big Sky Country state.)

Big corporate money, local political feuds, conservation, and Native American rights swirl round Dutton’s quest to secure his legacy. It’s brutal, passionate, often shockingly violent stuff, with a backdrop of extraordinary beauty.

So it was impossible not to think about legacy when making my journey across some of Scotland’s richest farmland and most striking landscapes. Rothiemurchus estate at Aviemore has been in the hands of the Grant family since the 16th Century. The Purchase Cairn at Balmoral, built to commemorate Queen Victoria buying the estate in 1852, shows the Royal Family to be recent interlopers – not least in comparison to their neighbours the Farquharsons at Invercauld.The survival of any landholding in the 21st Century is now a balancing act between enterprise, the environment, commerce, subsidy, regulation and sheer graft. It’s as delicate as the ecosystem itself.

The Labour Government’s reduction of Agricultural and Business Property Relief by 50 per cent, announced in the most recent Budget, effectively introduces a 20 per cent Inheritance Tax on farms and family businesses valued at more than £1 million, presenting a further challenge for those considering their succession planning and legacy.

The introduction of this measure in April 2026 is now less than a year away. We in professional services –planners and investment managers, along with our colleagues in law and accountancy – have been helping clients model scenarios. Professional teams will certainly be busy for the foreseeable future –advice professionals are really the only winners here.

This summer sees the first round of agricultural shows since the Budget, so this topic will be firmly on the agenda. Calton’s annual residency at the GWCT Scottish Game Fair is a highlight of our professional year. Please don’t be shy about visiting us at the event, you are welcome to pick up a copy of The Scotsman and have a hot or cold drink on us any day of the jamboree.

We are co-hosting a reception at the event with the rural teams at Thorntons Solicitors and Henderson Loggie Accountants if you’d like a more in-depth chat.

We’re also proud to help launch a report on the changing nature of the UK’s moorland – our Big Sky Country – over the last three decades. It’s a landscape internationally recognised for its ecological importance for plant and bird habitats, and one shaped by climate, acidic peat soils and historic land-use practices – specifically sheep farming, grouse shooting, and deerstalking.

But the Heather Trust’s report, Heather Futures, reveals that Scotland lost almost 7,000sq km – or 15 per cent – of its moorland between 1990 and 2023. Across the UK, an area the size of Birmingham is lost each year.Taking the long view, it is important to note that moorland has been declining in extent since the 19th Century, mostly due to expanding forestry and agriculture. But recently pressure has been put on moorland habitats and species by rewilding projects, tree-planting initiatives, private investment for carbon sequestration, and the legislation of management techniques.

Much of the rapid decline in open-ground bird numbers (Red-Listed species such as curlew, lapwing, golden plover and black grouse) comes from the absence of joined-up, integrated large-scale strategy. Fragmentation of a habitat is as significant as its loss for wildlife. Inconsistency across areas where different priorities hold sway has created unconnected blocks of habitat that limit biodiversity.

Stewardship at every level is a difficult job, whether you a running a business, a farm, a national park or a country. Balancing interests and having a long-term plan is essential, as is fostering co-operation amongst the teams and organisations that carry out the work.

What is most wonderful at these summer gatherings is how a common appreciation and love for the land and life on it emerges from seemingly opposed camps. We work to preserve it for the generations to come.

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