As part of the planning for a retreat I’m organizing in May, I recently visited Scotland. I spent time near Edinburgh to learn more about the work of designer and weaver Araminta Campbell, whose approach reflects the connection between nature and clothing. Her atelier, set within a fairytale castle outside the city, is renowned for its team of skilled artisan handweavers who create bespoke textile designs. It is a place I have long admired, a magical world of tartan and tweed.
As a model, you become attuned to the clothes you wear – how they shape your image and how others perceive you. But it took time for me to realize that the clothes themselves also shape the world. Eleven years ago, I became interested in the environment. I understood how little I knew about the fibers I wore, the land they came from and the people who created them. In 2021, I founded the agriculture charity DIRT. Through it, I try to focus on the elemental components of fashion: soil, animals, people. Clothes are born of soil and eventually return to it, which is why biodynamic agriculture is so essential.
In the Scottish Highlands, the sweeping grasslands and cloven-hoofed animals give the land its vitality. I will confess that I had never thought much about grazing animals. They wreak havoc: flattening everything underfoot, eating every plant and leaving droppings behind. But this is precisely what the ecosystem needs. Trampled grasses decompose efficiently, manure enriches the soil and the act of grazing encourages regrowth – stronger and healthier each time when grazed in rotation, giving the land time to rest in between visits from the animals.
In the surrounding expanses, the witches’ chant from Macbeth comes to mind. The open fields feel remote and exposed to the harsher elements, stirring a sense of the supernatural. There is something otherworldly here, particularly around Rosslyn Chapel, whose mysterious stonework has intrigued artists and seekers for centuries. Myths and legends abound: the Knights Templar, the Holy Grail and much of the plot of The Da Vinci Code.
I’ve been learning more about the Druids, which leads me to wonder whether experiences such as telepathy might be possible. The word itself comes from “distant feeling.” Could that distance also refer to the remoteness of wilderness, not just the space between two minds? The Druids of Scotland were revered for their deep connection to nature. They were masters of herbal medicine and spiritual practice, as well as respected diplomats who mediated disputes between clans. Could druids really see into the future? Your guess is as good as mine.
I’m excited for my return to Scotland at that beautiful moment when spring turns to summer. The retreat will be held at Penicuik Estate House, one of the oldest estates in the country, which became known as one of the great meeting places for figures of the Scottish Enlightenment. Together with my husband, Boniface Verney-Carron, a holistic practitioner who specializes in body psychology, participants will take guided walks, join in ecstatic dance and experience somatic practices. But before then, we enter the season for making New Year’s resolutions – a moment to become physically fitter, mentally stronger and clearer in purpose. Happy 2026. The world is in your hands.
This article was originally published in The Spectator’s December 22, 2025 World edition.
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