Stuart and Jo McNicol live with Amy (10), Tommy (9) at Castleton Farm of 170ha adjacent to North Berwick. Enterprises include arable, AECS, seasonal lets, storage workshops, Castleton Events and Drift Coffeehouse with the help of LEADER Funding.

Jo and Stuart McNicol at Drift, North Berwick.

Agritourism, not a phrase we had come across on our journey into diversification but DRIFT coffehouse, our most recent development sits firmly within the sector.

Our journey began back in 2008 with a redundant farm cottage which we renovated for self catering holiday lets. 2012 saw the beginnings of Castleton Events, a bespoke service utilising a Greenfield site for weddings and parties situated before Tantallon Castle and the Bass Rock. After the first event keeping Stuart's parents awake until the sun rose and the need for ear defenders in attempts to drown out the bass thud it was deemed necessary to take greater control, perhaps giving the venue 'over' not a grand plan after all. The following year Jo formed Castleton Events which still runs today and has future development plans on the go.

But why diversify? Two families working and living off a small arable farm wasn't deemed to be profitable enough. At the time we wanted to start a family, the need to leave a legacy became stronger.

10 years in the making and four project ideas later, DRIFT, our coffeehouse developed and built using up cycled shipping containers opened its doors in June 2018. Research up and down the country was carried out but a final stumble on a shipping container building from which to buy tea in Bristol became the true inspiration for our own build. It was an opportunity to keep it small and manageable, quirky and most definitely a point of difference to anything in East Lothian but also a chance to bring together land and sea. Perched on the edge of a cliff, originally used to graze sheep many years ago and with infinity views to Fife and the Bass Rock we were confident we were about to create the visitor destination sort from our vision.

The first year we welcomed over 80,000 visitors. The beginnings humble but not small with over 200 slices of cake being made daily. Keen to embrace the use of Scottish produce we were quick to add soup and connect with other producers for chutney's to accompany out quick selling cheese scones.

COVID brought about a chance to reflect and make adjustments to the business as a whole. It saw the introduction of our DRIFTaway trailer, a lifesaver during these current times. Brunch became popular and our DRIFT rolls a talking point. As we enter a second period of lockdown, undeterred we look to embrace a new direction with a chef, kitchen expansion and a new and exciting menu.

With plans to bring more Agri to tourism the future looks bright. A new event space looks to offer farm tours with eating experience and whisky, gin or vodka tasting taking us firmly back to the farming history and roots along with opportunities to engage with school children to show the arable side to farming. Scottish Agritourism is a growing sector and it's exciting to be a part of.