On 12 June, I went to Scotland to take part in a Macra international exchange programme. I travelled to Edinburgh where I met 11 other exchanges from Northern Ireland, Wales, England, Finland, Switzerland, Australia and New Zealand. We stayed in a hostel in Edinburgh for our first two nights.

On the second day, we visited a place called Cragies which has a 100ha fruit and vegetable farm. However, its main focus is on growing strawberries, raspberries, blackberries and cranberries. It keeps other variations of berry for roughly three months of the year, before composting and replanting all over again. We learned about the versatility of the cranberry as well as the fact that the cranberry vine has a lifespan of about 15 years.

On the same day, we visited the Scottish parliament and the Royal Over-Seas League club for dinner where we were welcomed by the Scottish young farmers’ ambassadors. The Royal Over-Seas League was established in 1910 and is a non-profit private members’ club dedicated to championing international friendship and understanding.

The next day we checked out of the hostel and went to see the Kelpies on our way to Glasgow. The Kelpies are the largest equine sculptures in the world, standing 30m tall and weighing 300t each; they are very impressive works of art.

We arrived at the Fenwick Hotel where we met the host families. It was a good opportunity for the exchanges and the hosts to get to know each other. I was staying with host farmer Lee Robb. We visited Girtrigde farm; there, he buys in cattle, develops them and sells them on. We also visited Culzean castle which dates back to 1792 and Electric Brae which is unique because thanks to an optical illusion, cars and bikes appear to roll up rather than down the hill (similar to what Father Jack experienced in Father Ted).

The following day, we visited Millport – the only town on the island of Great Cumbrae – which is located off the west coast of Scotland. We cycled around the island and that night we held a 21st birthday party with a beach theme for one of the members of the exchange.

Our adventure continued with a visit to Strandhead farm. This is a dairy farm with 225 cows and four Lely robots. Later, we all met up at the Royal Hotel, Cumnock.

On Monday 19 June, we visited the National Museum of Rural life in Glasgow. It was a fascinating look at country life from times long past, not too unlike our own Irish museum of country life located in Turlough House, Co Mayo.

Wind farm

We also visited the UK’s largest onshore wind farm located on White Lee Moor where 215 turbines produce enough electricity to power 300,000 homes every year. Having greatly enjoyed our time with our host farmers, we returned to our hostel in Edinburgh.

Over the next four days we visited the Royal Highland Show which itself is a four-day exhibition and the pinnacle of the agriculture calendar in the UK. It is worth £46m to the economy.

Similar to our agricultural shows in Ireland, there was beef and dairy stockjudging and we also watched showjumping and plenty of machinery. There was so much to do over the four days and plenty of interesting items for sale.

I really enjoyed this whole experience, having met so many nice people, and I hope to see them all again.