Graeme Dalby and Valerie Bennett have lived at Beechgrove with their daughter, dogs and some sheep and cows since 2006. Their smallholding is on the outskirts of the rural parish of Caerlaverock, Dumfries and Galloway, in South West Scotland. When not on lambing duty, Valerie works at the local Caerlaverock Castle – a unique, impressive 13th century moated, triangular castle.

Graeme was born and brought up in the North East of England and hasn’t lost his accent! He studied Biological Sciences (BSc (Hons)) at the other end of the country, at Plymouth Polytechnic. Whilst it couldn’t have been much further from home, the varied environments appealed – Dartmoor, high ground, wood and grassland all the way down to the marine environment at the coast.

After graduating, Graeme joined the (then) Nature Conservancy Council [NCC] as an Estate Worker, then an Upland Vegetation Surveyor – based in Edinburgh, travelling the length and breadth of the country. This was followed by a spell with the Game Conservancy Trust as a Research Assistant – looking at red grouse, based in Newtonmore, covering Scotland. After that, Graeme worked as a Grassland Surveyor for the NCC in Newcastle Upon Tyne. Between 1991 and 1995, he worked for the Scottish Natural Heritage [SNH] back in Edinburgh, as an area officer involved with monitoring and management of Sites of Special Scientific Interest [SSSIs], town and country planning, liaising with voluntary bodies and dealing with protective species.

A move to Dumfries in 1995 saw Graeme run the Barnacle Goose Management Scheme and the Saltmarsh Grazing Scheme for SNH. He then trained to be a Chartered Surveyor, studying with the College for Estate Management, qualifying in 2004. In this role, Graeme provided specialist advice and input into land and buildings.

In 2006, the family started their smallholding at Beechgrove with cows and sheep, including grazing on parts of Longridge Moor SSSI, the southern part of the Lochar Mosses. Between 2008 and 2017, Graeme was Project Manager for the Langholm Moors Demonstration Project, to enable red grouse and hen harriers to co-exist in the SSSI. In addition, Graeme also does some private consultancy work on land management issues, including grant applications as well as development ideas and proposals.

In 2020, Graeme and Valerie could see there was a shortage of local provenance, local species trees. Graeme saw a big demand and anticipates the demand will continue for the foreseeable future. They found themselves – just the two of them – erecting a 50m x 9m polytunnel! And so began their local, native tree nursery business.