A COMMUNITY-owned estate which was in danger of financial collapse just six years ago has secured its income through two new partnerships which will boost the struggling local economy.
The Assynt Foundation is celebrating 20 years since the community took ownership of the 44,000 acres of the Glencanisp and Drumrunie estates, bought from the millionaire Vestey family for around £4 million.
One collaboration is with boutique hotelier Nick Dent’s, Original Hotels, which will see the iconic Glencanisp Lodge at the heart of the estate, restored and reopened for hotel business in January 2026.
In the second partnership, the Assynt Foundation is partnering with The Woodland Trust who will develop and implement a landscape scale management plan across the 44,000 acre estates, including the regeneration and creation of native woodland.
The partnership will be funded from both public and private sources .
Looking back at the community's journey, Assynt Foundation chairman Lewis MacAskill said: ‘To be honest six years ago the Foundation was on the verge of bankruptcy and was in danger of going bust.
"The Foundation ran Glencanisp Lodge as a BnB and as self-catering accommodation for a number of years, and while a number of locals were employed and the Lodge was kept busy, the Foundation lacked the necessary hospitality expertise and this venture lost money over a sustained period of time.
"By late 2019, it became apparent that insolvency was looming. Covid was starting to loom over us and we decided the safest course action was to close the lodge in November of 2019. The Lodge has remained closed since then."
MacAskill (below) added: "Some community groups tend to want to do everything themselves and to lead on all their community developments. Sometimes that works very well and sometimes it can create challenges.
"When the community groups don’t have the expertise, partnerships make sense."
In 2021, In an effort to find necessary expertise to re-open Glencanisp Lodge, the Foundation advertised for a lease holder to develop the 14-bedroom property.
Hotelier Dent has around nine hotels in the UK, with four in the North of Scotland; Shieldaig Lodge, The Broadford Hotel, Forss House Hotel, Thurso, and the Kirkwall Hotel, Orkney.
With more hotels in the Borders, Edinburgh and Thames-side, he is a significant player in the hospitality sector. The group says his application stood out among the rest.
MacAskill added: "Nick Dent is going to carry out a full refurbishment of the lodge. It is a lovely building but it needs TLC and money spent on it that we in the Assynt Foundation don’t have.
"He is bringing all his expertise and all his knowledgeable staff and money that we didn’t have. And a network of knowledge to actually fill the place with customers."
The refurbishment plan includes developing several old outhouse buildings around the Lodge into staff quarters and a launderette.
Crucially for the Assynt Foundation, Dent’s proposal includes up to 20 year-round local jobs, which will make the Lodge one of the largest employers in Assynt, helping to overcome the community’s constant battle with depopulation.
With 44,000 acres of variable estate land, woodland development was an obvious option for the Assynt Foundation.
Lewis MacAskill said of the Woodland Trust project: "It’s hugely exciting and final agreement should be signed in March.
"We don’t think anything quite like has happened on this scale across Scottish community-owned projects. The lawyers on both sides were often scratching their heads in order to get it right."
A Joint Management Board made up of two members from the foundation and the Woodland Trust will manage the partnership on a day to day basis.
Development manager Linsay Chalmers said: "The Assynt Foundation’s revival is a testament to the innovation and commitment of community-led organisations. Faced with the trying economic situation raised by Covid and running a former shooting estate to meet local needs rather than being a status symbol.
"The Foundation should be proud of the partnerships they’ve secured, and the local jobs and economic development which are intrinsic to them. This agility by the team at the Foundation and the long-term security the partnerships provides give us a bright view of a repopulating and vibrant future for Assynt."
