Now that refurbishment of the Wee Crook has been completed, Tweedsmuir is holding its first community event there on Sunday, June 5th.
The first annual Rhubarbfest promises an afternoon full of fun and entertainment, with competitions, cream teas, live music from the Robert Fish Band, a treasure hunt and opening of the Tweedsmuir Jubilee Orchard.
The Jubilee Orchard is part of the ongoing works to turn the neglected gardens and grounds of the Crook back into a valuable community resource, and Tweedsmuir is delighted to be welcoming Sir Hew Strachan, Lord Lieutenant of Tweeddale, and Deputy Lieutenant Finlay Smith, to perform the official opening ceremony.
The Tweedsmuir gardening group fixed on rhubarb as a theme for what they hope will be an annual celebration, when they started clearing the productive garden, and realised there was a flourishing rhubarb patch which had survived the decades of neglect unscathed. The popular fruit – or is it a vegetable?! – shares the resilience of the community itself, and is obviously very comfortable in the southern uplands of Scotland.
Visitors to the Rhubarbfest will also be able to peek inside the Wee Crook, formerly a very dilapidated steading building adjacent to the historic Crook Inn, but now transformed into a stylish and welcoming cafe, which will be open for further community events over the summer, before regular opening can commence in the coming months.
The refurbishment work has involved an investment of more than £600,000, funded by a range of organisations, including Scottish Borders Council (through the South of Scotland Enterprise Fund); the Clyde and Glenkerie Wind Farm Community Funds and Garfield Weston Foundation.
