The first task was to complete a vegetation scrape on the site and establish the ground levels. Foundations were then excavated and cages of reinforced steel were placed to support the building.

As the vegetation scrape commenced various rodents escaped and made new homes in the existing buildings: as we were inspecting one of the old stables a beautiful owl came through the window, landed for a moment to look at us, then flew off again – we just had time to snap a single shot.

To celebrate the commencement of construction we launched a very limited edition “Groundbreaker” bottling: a lovely whisky with a dark chestnut colour.