A LOTHIAN couple are set to give up their successful business in favour of the "Good Life" on a cashmere goat and alpaca farm.
Derek and Mairi McComisky, both 43, are set to shun the rat race in the style of the popular 1970s comedy series starring Richard Briers and Felicity Kendal as Tom and Barbara Good.
Like the Goods, they are opting for a slower pace of life - with
the help of 25 pregnant alpacas, as well as cashmere goats.
They have submitted a planning application to West Lothian Council for a cashmere goat farm, complete with visitor centre. The venture at Holehouseburn in Fauldhouse is the start of a five-year plan to jump off the treadmill and put something back into the local community.
The McComiskys hope their haulage business, which they have built up over the past 15 years to include eight arctic lorries, will be taken over by their sons. Mr McComisky said: "I’ve just got fed up of the lorries, there’s too much competition now and, after 15 years, I was just looking for a better way of life. Being able to jump off the treadmill is extremely inviting.
"As well as the business side of the venture, we also want to create a visitor centre which will allow visitors the opportunity of viewing the animals at close quarters, and we hope to include a children’s farm.
"I’ve got a friend in Port Glasgow who has alpacas and I used to take the bairns out there and they were just mesmerised by these creatures. They are really strange looking and interesting. I just thought that no-one else was doing it and it was a good opportunity."
He added: "It’s going to be an interesting place and we feel there is a demand for this kind of thing in this area."
So keen are the McComiskys to realise their dream, they have already forked out £45,000 on their alpacas. Young pregnant females, who are proven mothers, can sell for around £8000.
The plan, which they hope to bring to fruition on seven acres of their land, includes a 450 square metre building for pens, breeding facilities, materials and feed storage and shearing facilities.
They hope to turn it into a "city farm" which will attract school visits and tourists.
Entry will be free of charge and the centre will rely solely on donations and revenue from sales.
A spokeswoman for Edinburgh and Lothians Tourist Board said: "This sounds as though it is an interesting project. West Lothian already has a number of popular and high-quality visitor attractions such as Linlithgow Palace, the Linlithgow Canal Centre and the Almond Valley Visitor Centre and should this project get the go-ahead, I am sure it would be a welcome addition to the portfolio of things to do and see in the area."
Cashmere is the valuable fine down undercoat which goats and alpacas grow during late summer and autumn and shed naturally in the spring.
European textile manufacturers face increasing difficulties in buying sufficient quantities of raw or de-haired cashmere to meet demand. The quality of cashmere is also a problem, with some foreign cashmeres being "adulterated" with other fibres.
Scotland currently processes 1000 tonnes of imported cashmere - approximately 60 per cent of world production.
Cashmere farmers send their crop to a fibre pool operated by the Scottish Cashmere Producers Association, which then markets it either direct to a textile mill or made into garments carrying the SCPA label.
John Barker, secretary of the SCPA, said: "Naturally we would welcome this.
"It would be great because cashmere itself is one of the most luxurious fibres in the world and in the UK we hardly produce any cashmere, 99 per cent of it is imported.
"We would be delighted to encourage any development like this which shows great diversification."
The full article contains 673 words and appears in Edinburgh Evening News newspaper.
