Buccleuch — one of Scotland’s biggest private landowners — has announced that it is to merge operations at its Bowhill and Eskdale & Liddesdale Estates.

The combined estate will be known as Borders Estate.

The overall footprint of the combined estate will be significantly reduced as Buccleuch continues its policy of selling land and farms.

Buccleuch said that Bowhill and Eskdale and Liddesdale Estates had been working increasingly closely and a single unified operation “reflected more accurately estate activity and operations, therefore from the 1st of September this will be formalised.”

Borders Estate will be managed by Edward Morris, who was previously Estate Manager at Bowhill and has been overseeing operations at Eskdale & Liddesdale since early this year.

“There will be no change to our ongoing relationships with our residential and farming tenants; with both our legal agreements and key personnel remaining unchanged under the new Borders Estate umbrella,” said Buccleuch.

“The overall footprint of the combined estate will be significantly reduced as Buccleuch progresses its policy of selling land and farms.

“Savills, the property advisers, have been engaged by Buccleuch to look at bringing more agricultural land to the market, either as a portfolio or individual units.

“Buccleuch has sold 24 farms totaling 32,000 acres across its Scottish Estates over the past 20 years.

“Discussions are currently ongoing with approximately 40 tenants.”

Buccleuch CEO John Glen said: “The Bowhill and Eskdale and Liddesdale Estates have been operating closely together and it makes sense to create a single estate identity, which is more representative of our operations.

“We continue to streamline and harmonise our back office processes, in order to develop a consistent approach across all aspects of our rural business.

“The shape and scale of Buccleuch’s landholdings continues to change and in recent years we have been selling land and properties as we reduce our footprint.

“We have been in discussions with a number of tenant farmers who have expressed an interest in buying their farms and these discussions are continuing.

“Buccleuch will continue to have a strong attachment to the Bowhill and Eskdale and Liddesdale areas and our policy of selling land will enable us to invest in new projects.”