Croft by the sea with native sheep, felting and berry orchard
Highland
1. We are a husband and wife with a nine year old child. We have a Croft by the coast on the Isle of Skye. Most of the land is steeply sloping to the sea and is all permanent species-rich grassland. We keep around 100-130 Hebridean sheep for both their meat and wool. We sell directly to individuals and restaurants, so we can ensure the highest traceability and welfare standards for our animals and our customers. We use the best fleeces each year to produce felted items including rugs, tea cosies and nesting pods for birds. We also keep some hens for eggs for ourselves and have a working collie and pet Labrador, as well as two cats.
In 2023 we took on the care of over 600 well established blueberry bushes in our local village and we are looking forward to adding another string to our bow and ensuring this amazing orchard can remain productive. We also have a polycrub where we are trying to increase our self-grown food. This allows us to grow plants that would not normally survive well on Skye.
Our main aims for the Croft are improving the plant biodiversity and maintaining the highest welfare standards for our animals.
We are a pretty relaxed household, who enjoy spending time in the outdoors, curling up and watching films and cooking and eating good food. We eat both vegetarian and meaty food with toast/ porridge/ cereal breakfast, soup/ sandwich/ wrap type lunch and a hearty hot dinner.
2. Visiting WWOOFers (depending on time of year) will help with feeding the animals, chopping firewood, maintaining fences, processing fleeces and maintaining blueberry bushes. We are also participants in a pilot study on the future of environmental support in agriculture in Scotland, so in the summer months undertake plant surveys on all our land. We would be very happy to help pass on our (modest but increasing) knowledge of local plants.
3. A typical day could include feeding the animals, chopping firewood and pruning blueberry bushes or weeding in the garden/ polycrub.
4. We love music, making and eating home cooked meals, getting out in the beautiful outdoors of Skye. We enjoy board games but don’t find enough time to play them usually! We are members of the local community garden (which you could visit too) and enjoy ceilidhing when the opportunity comes. Jake is a member of the local rugby club, and if anyone wanted to join in on a training session, they are on Tuesday and Thursday evenings. Some Saturdays over the autumn/ winter will involve heading to a rugby match, which WWOOFers would be welcome to come and watch if they wanted.
There are countless walks and mountain climbing routes all around Skye. The local village is about a mile away (though the walking route does not include a footpath the whole way). The village has a pub, which has live music sessions in the summer months, and a very fine restaurant which has a focus on very local produce. There is also a play park for children. We are on the path of a bus route, but they are pretty infrequent, so it would be difficult to rely solely on public transport to get around.
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Learning opportunities
Fruit or nut farming
Pig farming
Sheep or goat farming
Beekeeping
Vegetable or fruit preservation
Traditional crafts
Renewable energy production
Methods or systems
No-till farming
Rotational grazing
Host type
Production farm
4.9
Hectares
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12
Acres
Aoife
Member since 2023
Languages spoken:
English
Sun
Mon
Tue
Wed
Thu
Fri
Sat
Response rate: 16%
Response time: typically within 7 days
Highland
Portree
Reviews
Amanda
Switzerland
•
November 2025
Jake, Aoife, and their daughter Corran are warm, welcoming and genuinely lovely people. They are incredibly knowledgeable about crofting and generous in sharing their stories and experience. Their two dogs are well-behaved, full of character and always ready to join in on activities. The croft is wonderful chaos, full of laughs and good conversation, and we quickly felt like part of the family. There was a huge variety of tasks to choose from each day: sheep work, collecting eggs, pressure washing, berry picking, fleece sorting and the never-ending de-brambling, weeding and gardening. It was expected that we do about 4hrs work a day, but we often did more because we were having so much fun, and we still had plenty of time to explore the stunning Isle of Skye. The food was exceptional: hearty home-cooked meals, croft-raised lamb and pork and plenty of snacks. Accommodation was a very comfortable private room in their house with a shared family bathroom. If you’re considering this Wwoof, come prepared for the Highlands weather - even in late summer we lived in our wet-weather gear. Jake and Aoife give a lot to their WWOOFers, and they deserve enthusiastic, hard-working people who want to learn, contribute, and aren’t afraid to get stuck in and get their hands dirty. We’re incredibly grateful for our time here and couldn’t recommend this experience more.
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Jasper
Australia
•
October 2025
I feel so grateful for the time I spent on Skye with Aoife, Jake, Corran and all their lovely animals! The work was rewarding, and I discovered a new love of wool processing which I will certainly pursue into the future. But most importantly, I felt so welcomed into their wonderful family, and I know I have made connections that will last forever! Thank you so much for opening your home to me, and please come visit my side of the world some time!
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Johann
France
•
July 2025
We had an amazing week with Aoife, Jake and Corran. It was a beautiful meeting!
We felt right away like part of this family, so enthusiastic and fill of energy!
We helped to prepare the ground for picking berries and discovered the Hebridean sheeps with such a pretty fleece.
We thank you again for your warm and friendly welcome and wish you the best for your croft project.
And who knows, may be another time in Skye or France! It will be a pleasure to see you again.
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Linnae
United States
•
April 2025
Wow, wow, wow! I had the most special time imaginable during my stay with Aoife, Jake, and Corran. This was absolutely the best first WWOOFing experience I could have ever possibly asked for or imagined. I felt so welcomed into the family and croft. I will always cherish my memories working with the sheep, sorting, picking and carding wool and of course spending time playing with Corran, making fairy cakes, fairy villages, and play dough as well as sharing meals, tea, and story time with the whole family in the evenings. I truly wish I could have stayed longer and hope to come back some day!
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Emily
United Kingdom
•
March 2025
We really enjoyed our stay with Aoife and the family. They were very keen to show us how working on croft land in the Isle of Skye works, which was super interesting. We loved learning about how wool is processed for felting and thoroughly enjoyed getting stuck in. We even got to make our own wet felted cup cozy! Aoife is very knowledgeable and we learnt so much on our stay :) We felt super welcomed from the get go and fell in love with the dogs instantly. Thanks for having us for the week! And thank you Corran for the amazing bookmark and worlds best nail salon. Wishing you all the best for the future.
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Anouk
United Kingdom
•
March 2025
I had an amazing stay at Aoife and Jake's farm! It was my first wwoofing experience and I couldn't have wished for better hosts. Aoife and Jake were lovely, they made me feel very welcome even though I only stayed for a couple of days. I learnt a lot about crofting and wool processing, and helped feed the pigs and sheep. Other activities involved drinking tea and stroking the dogs, which was also very enjoyable. I hope I'll be able to come back some day !
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