Bowhill looks to a greener future

It’s in our roots

Bowhill has a long history of striving to be environmentally friendly.   The first Duchess of Buccleuch, Anna, created many of the woodlands surrounding the House in the 1700’s.  One of her successors, Duke Henry, introduced another 15,000 trees including oak, ash, elm, beech, chestnut, larch and spruce.  And for generations environmental stewardship has been and continues to be a guiding principle for Buccleuch.

Recent Green additions: Anaerobic Digester

In 2016, an anaerobic digester (AD plant) was created on the estate.  The plant offers a new use for farm waste and promises green heat and electricity to fuel the estate business. Now fully operational, the green energy plant on Carterhaugh Farm generates 200kW of electricity around the clock, plus sufficient heat to dry woodchip and grain for the farm.

Going even Greener with GSHP

This year, we are undertaking one of the most transformative changes yet; the installation of a ground source heat pump (GSHP).

The GSHP will be one of the largest installations of its kind in Scotland and will result in Bowhill House and the surrounding buildings being run wholly by renewable energy.

The installation will involve the running of a 24km pipe network in the grounds to the 19^th century mansion house.  This is almost the same distance as walking from Bowhill to St Mary’s Loch!

The pump itself will be run on power from the AD plant, which converts waste from the estate’s agricultural operations into electricity.

The heat pump is a bespoke unit which has been custom built by Danish Firm European Energy.  However, the project itself is being delivered by Borders-based company Renew Green Energy.