Castleton Farm
Farmed by the Mitchell family since the early 1900s, Castleton Farm has grown from a traditional dairy and strawberry farm into a thriving, diversified family business. Today, alongside its fruit-growing operation, the farm produces its own range of preserves and food products and welcomes visitors to its farm shop and café.
In this Q&A, the team shares the story behind Castleton Farm, the importance of Scottish-grown fruit, and how they are building a sustainable business for generations to come.
Scottish Food & Drink September 2026
Can you tell us the story of Castleton Farm and how the business has evolved since you first started?
Castleton has been farmed by the Mitchell family since the early 1900s, with our branch of the family taking over in 1992. At that point, Murray and Rhoda Mitchell brought their dairy herd to Castleton, where strawberries were already being grown. As we moved towards the 2000s, the decision was made to move away from dairy and develop the 20 acres of strawberries into a commercial-scale fruit business.
Our first polytunnels went up in 2000, helping us protect the crop from the Scottish weather and significantly extend the growing season. From strawberries, we diversified into raspberries, blackberries and blueberries, and later cherries. We planted our first cherry trees in 2010 and were one of Scotland’s first commercial cherry orchards.
The business has also developed beyond growing fruit. We opened our first seasonal farm shop and café in Fordoun in 2004 because we wanted to sell our fruit directly to customers. Its success gave us the confidence to build the current farm shop and café at the farm, which has since expanded. We also added a production kitchen, allowing us to turn our own fruit into jams, chutneys, syrups and other products.
Today, Castleton is a family-run business with Ross and Anna Mitchell as directors, that grows and supplies fruit, manufactures food products and operates the farm shop and café. That evolution has really been about combining our agricultural roots with a willingness to diversify and innovate while retaining the traditional values of a family farm.
What makes your product distinctly Scottish, whether through ingredients, production, location, historical meanings or the people involved?
For us, being Scottish starts with where our fruit is grown. Castleton’s Aberdeenshire location, with long daylight hours and a cooler climate, allows our berries to ripen slowly, developing their natural sweetness and flavour.
That connection continues from field to finished product, with our berries grown, picked, and made into preserves here on the family farm. Our farm shop and café also showcase quality Scottish produce and local suppliers.
So, it’s more than a Scottish name on the label – our location and ingredients are genuinely rooted in Scotland.
What prompted the farm to make sustainability such a central focus, and how has that changed the way you operate?
Our aim at Castleton is to farm profitably, ethically, and sustainably, protecting the land we depend on for the future.
Since 2018, we’ve used regenerative farming practices to improve soil health, including no-till methods and more diverse crop rotations. We’ve also invested in renewable energy, with our biomass and solar systems producing more electricity than the farm uses overall.
For us, sustainability means combining traditional farming with new technology and ideas to grow quality food while caring for the environment.
How important is seasonality, both in terms of flavour and quality, and sustainability?
At Castleton Farm, seasonality is at the heart of how we grow. Scotland’s long daylight hours and cooler climate allow our fruit to ripen slowly, helping it develop the sweetness, flavour and quality we’re known for.
We’ve also invested in polytunnels, careful crop management and renewable energy to provide heat when it’s needed. Together, these allow us to extend Castleton’s growing season to around nine months of the year. By growing high-quality Scottish fruit for longer, we can help reduce reliance on imported produce and the associated food miles, while making the most of our own locally generated renewable energy.
Looking to the future, what's next for Castleton Farm, and what would you like the next generation of the business to look like?
We’ve always developed Castleton by being willing to adapt and diversify, from growing new crops to developing our farm shop, café and own products. The support of our local customers, shops and community has played an important part in that growth, and we’re incredibly grateful for their continued support.
Looking ahead, we want to balance innovation with tradition, exploring new opportunities while continuing to produce high-quality food sustainably.
For the next generation, we’d like Castleton to remain a thriving, sustainable family business that continues to evolve while staying connected to the land, our Aberdeenshire roots and the community that supports us.
