In the first of a new series we share practical ways businesses can make use of AI - today!

Here in Part I we use Midjourney to turn static product images into short videos. It’s a technique we’ve used for our own ventures and on a few client projects, that’s proved effective at increasing engagement.

Introducing Blackdown Advisory - battle-tested business advice.

We - Blackdown founders Charles and Rhianne - have between us accumulated thirty years of commercial experience. We’ve worked for (and with) foreign and domestic governments, companies large and small, and started more than our fair share of side hustles and start-up businesses.

The UK wine industry is booming, with over 4,000 hectares (c. 10,000 acres) of vines now in active production across more than a thousand different vineyards. More than 200 wineries are now in operation - together they produced nearly nine million bottles of wine in 2023. Compare this to 2018 when a little over three million bottles were made, and you get an idea of the pace of change.

Country estates are unusual and complex enterprises, often comprising of quite different businesses across a variety of sectors.

Each estate operates differently, with revenues derived from sources as unique as the landscapes of which the owners are custodians. All have one thing in common in our experience - a desire to diversify their income streams.

A growing number of landowners are looking to nature restoration and rewilding - as both a practical contribution to combatting a changing climate and an innovative way to generate new sources of revenue. From selling biodiversity credits to developers through programmes like Biodiversity Net Gain (BNG) in the UK, to spinning-up associated eco-tourism ventures - a bold few estate owners are leading the way, proving that nature restoration can also be great business.