Before we had seed merchants, or at least seed merchants who source their seed in Europe, each area had its local varieties of garden and farm crops, selected by annual use for that particular valley or island. Some of these have been 'saved' by the Heritage Seed Library, but others have not. Scottish Landraces preserves seed of some wonderful old varieties such as Shetland cabbage and bere barley. I'm not sure how one gets hold of the seed, but I am hoping for some of Shetland cabbage. Scots Timothy is available through some agricultural seed merchants in Scotland so we are hoping to get some of that to spice up our flagging pastures.
The website is a bit out of date and simple, but it explains more:
http://www.scottishlandraces.org.uk/