From The Straits Times    |

Photos: Glencoe Reserve

The price is right: from $58 for 1sqft to $970 for 1,000 sq ft (based on the exchange rate at the time of writing). And it’s not that far away, at 6,856 miles (11,033km) from Singapore. Lady Gaga is reportedly part of the community, and Simon Cowell gave a plot to The X Factor judge Cheryl Tweedy.

The difference between this highland real estate and the kind in Singapore is that you can’t build anything on it or remove anything from it.

So what’s in it for you? You’ll be helping to restore and preserve Scotland’s wilderness – which you can visit and explore as often as you like. If your parcel is a large one (100 sq ft or more), you can set up “home” with a tent for a few days, plant more trees on it, and even um… scatter ashes. In support of your good deed, each purchase allows owners to use the courtesy title of Laird, Lord or Lady.

 

Since last October, the nature reserves at Appin and Lochaber (a two- to three-hour drive north of Glasgow) have been made available for purchase in Singapore dollars, and you can buy the land from www. highlandtitles.com.

Each sale helps the Highland Titles project “conserve Scotland one foot at a time”. This means bringing the nature reserves back to what they were before commercial forestry and hill farming degraded them. Restoration work includes regeneration projects for flora and fauna (removing invasive alien trees and replacing them with native Scottish trees), and creating new wetland and wild-flower meadows for wildlife (such as deer, foxes and badgers) to thrive.

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Scotland’s official tourism board, Visit Scotland, recently awarded the Highland Titles Nature Reserve at Glencoe Wood in Appin four out of five stars as a tourist attraction. So what do we do in a nature reserve? What comes naturally: Spot salmon in spring, the spawning season. Hike, bird watch, and have a picnic. Just don’t pee in the stream.

Once a year, landowners are brought on a tour to learn more about ongoing projects and conservation efforts. The gathering is held at Glencoe Wood (it starred in the Harry Potter movies) in Appin. The next one is from May 8-10, 2018. 

Can’t make it? See how your land is doing via Highland Titles’ smartphone app.

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This story was originally published in the January 2018 issue of Her World magazine.