Our Story

From award winning Glen Cowie Pedigree livestock to developing a community farm

The adventure began, whilst still living in England. Iain bought six pedigree Aberdeen Angus heifers to begin his Glen Cowie herd in 2014. After one of our daughters finished her GCSEs we made the move back to Northern Ireland, to continue to grow the Aberdeen Angus herd and began showing in 2016 at the Balmoral Show.

Iain’s wife, Malini, was a complete novice, having been brought up in Leicester and very much a city girl. However, as a family we soon began to learn about rhythms and seasons on the farm, the joys and challenges of seeing new life and the beauty of North Down. 

Lockdown took another turn as we relocated our farm to Comber and found ourselves hearing many stories through press reports and friends, of the challenges many have in accessing the rural environment. It was a time where people were needing space to breathe and to feel connection. This took us on another adventure as we began to explore what it would mean to open up our farm for the community. Having a split site made it ideal and we found ourselves on Zoom training courses and networking with other social enterprises and community farms in Northern Ireland. This led to the birth of Glenside Farm as a social enterprise, as we signed up as a social farm with Rural Support, opened the farm for families through open days and created a space for workshops and hire.

Iain continues to practise as a barrister in London as well as farming.  It is early days but our hope is that people will be part of the Glenside Farm community and celebrate the award winning livestock, but also find a sense of health and wellbeing for all through farming, nature and community when they visit.

Our dream is that the social enterprise at Glenside Farm would be:

• A place of health and wellbeing for all - that all who visit would experience a space to breathe and enjoy the beautiful scenery that in itself brings a sense of wellbeing. We work with all the community and as a working farm we believe that being involved in farming and nature brings rhythms and wonder that are good for our health and wellbeing. As we open the space at Glenside Farm, we know that connection is a huge component for people to not feel isolated and alone, but to journey together as community.