Part Two of a podcast we've made to support the Langholm Initiative, the award-winning community development trust for Eskdale, and a community buy out that is planning to turn a 'knackered old grouse moor' into the Tarras Valley Nature Reserve. 

Off the Leash's Charlie Moores explained more about the background to the buyout in the introduction to Part One, but it is an absolutely fascinating and inspiring story that is centred around Eskdale and the tightly-knit community of Langholm, a burgh in Dumfries and Galloway just 20 miles north of Carlisle, and the Duke of Buccleuch, one of the richest men in the UK who owns a staggering 217,000 acres of moorland, farms and forestry - including Langholm Moor and the Tarras Valley. Back in May 2019, Buccleuch Estates announced a decision to sell 25,000 acres of Langholm Moor and the Tarras Valley. Local interest in buying at least some of the land grew and the Langholm initiative launched a fundraising campaign on behalf of the community.

 'The impossible Dream' as it was termed initially, took off. 

In just six months the campaign attracted £3.8m in grants and funding, including a crowd funder which raised over £200,000 - and the community now legally owns 5,200 acres of land which includes upland moor, ancient woodland, meadows, peatlands and a river valley - the Tarras Valley Nature Reserve.

A second fundraiser has now been set up to buy an additional 5000 acres. The money has to be raised by May 2022 or the land could be put up for sale on the open market....and a chance to manage a whopping 10000 acres could be lost.  Would Charlie like to come to Langholm. he was asked, to make a podcast to help 'spread the word'? Would he ever...

in Part One he visited the reserve with Jenny Barlow and Angela Williams, in Part Two he's talking with two Langholm residents, Margaret Pool, Chair of Langholm Initiative, and Mairi Telford-Jammeh, a member of the Langholm Executive, to learn more about the history of Langholm, what Common Ridings are, and the sense of place that Langholm inspires...

Margaret and Mairi are obviously experienced interviewees as they didn't even wait for a question before launching into the most wonderful tales about swimming in the Tarras River, 'gurdling', and watching out for Border reivers...

As Charlie says in his introduction, he could have listened to them all day...

• Langholm Initiative Website and Twitter feed
• Go Fund me Crowd Funder (Community Buyout 2)
• Tarras Valley Nature Reserve Twitter feed
• YouTube Tarras Valley Live Event (December 1st) 
• Off the Leash Podcasts  Interview #10  Tarras Valley Part One