History

Barbreck Glen has been farmed continuously since prehistoric times.  Standing stones and the tombs of ancient Picts, Scots and Vikings highlight the landscape. For the last few generations the Ritchie family have looked after the land, beginning in the 1960s when Sandy’s  grandfather, George Ritchie, arrived from Orkney to manage the farm for the Hayes family, who own the estate.

George ran the farm successfully and innovatively, introducing Welsh Beulah sheep to Argyll for the first time and reaping the benefit of the breed's exceptional lambing percentage. When he retired in 1978, his son George, Sandy's father, took over the management of the farm, and ran it until his tragic early death in 1993.   

So, at the young age of 24 Sandy picked up the reins as Farm Manager and carried on where the two Georges had left off. In 1996 he married Katie, a Manx lass with farming experience. Their two sons, George and Dougie, were born in 1997 and 1999.

As things became tough in farming, David Hayes and Sandy searched for ways to branch out, and the lamb and beef business was born in 2001. With a large investment in equipment, the butchery was set up and they tracked down Ronnie Kennedy, an experienced Argyll butcher, who has been with them ever since.  In 2008 David Hayes decided to give up the farm, and, not wishing to sell, offered the tenancy to Sandy and Katie, who gladly took it on. In Easter 2010 the farm shop  opened.