Woodland Tannery has recently moved to a new location near Tarland in Aberdeenshire, right on the edge of the Cairngorms National Park.

Our intention is to bring the craft of tanning back into the croft, reconnecting it to the place, the animals, and the rhythms that sustain it. This move allows the making to happen closer to its source, weaving the tannery into the wider work we do here and grounding it firmly into place.

The land here is home to our small flock of Shetland, Zwartble sheep and Toggenburg goats, which we are raising for wool, dairy production and when the time comes - tanning their hides. We are also working towards small-scale grain production, with a focus on heritage grains from Scotland.

We have been growing our own tannin rich trees in our coppice, as well as tannin rich plants such as tormentil, to be used in our circular based tannery model. All lime and hair is used as fertiliser for our land as well as for restoring our traditional buildings, making our croft and tannery as self sufficient as possible while still working with other local suppliers.

We are currently in the process of building and setting up the new tannery building, and will be for much of 2026. During this time, our work continues as normal, with no interruption to orders or ongoing projects. While the tannery itself is a work in progress, we will be fully operational during this time (just a little slower!), and looking forward to welcoming this next stage as it slowly takes shape.