You've landed on the Isle of Lismore

This is where we, Sebastian & Eva Tombs, and about 150 other people, live and work and spend all of our time.  What do we do here all day?  We work mostly, and sing and play and think and talk a lot.

The Garden

The garden is quite formal, with gravel paths, some raised beds, a large medicinal and culinary herb area, a small tree nursery, vegetable plot, top fruit, poly-tunnel, an orchard, guest house and composting toilet .  A mulberry tree stands in the central stone raised circle.  We sell vegetables, plants and flowers to visitors and seeds by mail order.
 The Garden is open to visitors on Wednesday and Saturday 11-5 from 1 April till 1st September.  Or at other times by arrangement.  Lunch, coffee, tea and homebaking available.

Go to the garden

Seaweed

Surrounded by the sea as we are, we have learned a great deal about the wonderful uses and gifts seaweed offers us.  From foraging, education, land regeneration, animal and human nutrition, and more.  Foraging seaweed is popular on the island.  I try to host a seaweed forage event whenever the tides are very low.  This makes it possible to see and harvest as many different types as possible.  There are always many other little creatures to see and learn about.  Being so close to the sea is an energising and uplifting experience and it is always good to share this unique experience with others.

Go to Seaweed

The Farm

The farm has grown organically, as it were,  We started with planting trees.  4 hectares with trees in 5 different woodlands.  They are all native; such as Rowan, Birch, Hazel, Alder, Elm, Oak, Willows, Ash, Scots Pine, Aspen, Hornbeam.  We undertook some in-depth studies about which animals would be happiest here and decided on Shetland Cattle.  This turned out to be a very happy choice.  We have between 8-15 cattle here at one time, though we began with two cows, their calves and a bull calve back in 2015.  We then started on the road  to conversion to Organic and then to full Biodynamic certification which we now hold.

Go to the Farm

The House

  You may enjoy reading about the trials and tribulation of house building and looking at the pictures.  The house is almost finished...it has been a long drawn out process.  Designed by us with other's help.  It is built on passive house principles with massive insulation, great attention to detail  and triple glazed windows. Building on an island has been more difficult than we expected.  There are many pages here about the building process, it is a bit of a blog really.

Go to the building