Chris Heasman, a writer in Kenmore, Scotland, first learned of Discovery Land Company, an Arizona-based real estate developer and operator of luxury private residential communities and resorts, when it purchased the nearby Taymouth Castle on Loch Tay in 2018.
But it wasn’t until 2022, when Discovery began buying up property and businesses in Kenmore, that Heasman and other residents began to take note. One of their main concerns was whether Discovery’s plans for the property, which included renovation of the castle and existing 18-hole golf course and construction of 145 homes, would maintain public access to the estate’s 7,775 acres. Scotland’s 2003 Land Reform Act gives the public the right to traverse most of the country’s land, also known as the “freedom to roam.”