In 2012, when their village shop was under threat of closure, residents of Palnackie, near Dalbeattie in Dumfries & Galloway, stepped forward to take it over. They rustled up volunteers, drew up a rota and employed a part-time manager to oversee the day-to-day running of the store.

Over the following years however they began to realise that the economics of making the shop viable in a village with a population of just 250 would always be a struggle. Yet the shop was an essential part of the community, providing day-to-day grocery items and a regular Post Office service as well as being a place where customers would get a friendly greeting and perhaps bump into their neighbours.

Eventually the committee members developed a plan to buy the shop and the house attached to it from its owner, enabling them to save on rental, whilst also gaining income from leasing out the residential part of the property.

So in 2019, that’s what they did, with the help of a grant of £187,250 from the Scottish Land Fund (SLF ) to set up the Palnackie Village Shop.

It is 10 years since the Fund was relaunched as a Scottish Government Programme and since then it has awarded in excess of 340 grants totalling more than £59 million to enable rural and urban communities to become more resilient and sustainable through the ownership and management of land and assets.

For Palnackie, ownership enabled them to access other funding to renovate both the shop and house, as well as the former restaurant attached to one side of the building, which they have now reopened as Flounders Community Cafe.

Committee member, Susan Black was Chairperson at the time of the Scottish Land Fund grant and she says the help and advice received from the SLF played a huge part in the success of the whole process.

“Prior to getting the grant we received some first stage funding which allowed us to draw up a professional business plan, and at every stage of the process there was someone within the SLF available at the end of a phone to answer our queries.”

When the shop was initially under threat, it would have been very easy to let it close, but instead the efforts of the local community, with help from the Scottish Land Fund, have resulted in a viable village shop, energy-efficient affordable housing and a sociable cafe which has created local jobs.