A highlight of the gardening calendar in 2019 was undoubtedly the inaugural Threave Gardening Show, an opportunity for everyone to meet the experts from the National Trust for Scotland’s (NTS) School of Heritage Gardening and visit Threave Garden & Estate, near Castle Douglas in Dumfries & Galloway. This year was going to be particularly important as it was the 60th anniversary of the School.
In light of ongoing Covid-19 restrictions, the local National Trust for Scotland team have teamed up with the Galloway Glens Scheme to deliver a free online event that will allow you to set a unique tour of the amazing gardens at Threave along with the garden at nearby Broughton House in Kirkcudbright, hearing about both gardens and the work that goes into keeping the gardens in such excellent conditions. The event will be on the 14th of June, from 3-5pm.
This celebration of horticulture will appeal to enthusiastic gardeners looking to get useful tips for use at home, anyone who had been planning on attending Threave Gardening Show 2020, or indeed, to anyone who has ever wanted to make a trip to Threave Garden and Broughton House’s garden to see what are surely some of the best-loved gardens in the region.
A Galloway Glens hosted event, it will be led by gardening experts at NTS Dumfries & Galloway, including Michael Lawrie, Head Gardener for Dumfries & Galloway and the School of Heritage Gardening, Mike Jack, First Gardener Instructor based at Broughton House, and also a piece by three-times winner of Scotland’s Young Horticulturist of the Year, Owen Harlow, a current gardener at Threave and recent graduate of the School. Members of the public will be encouraged to submit videos and photographs of ‘problem’ areas of their gardens prior to the event where the team of experts will assemble provide solutions!
Operations Manager, Sam Gallacher, said:
Threave Gardening Show was a huge success last year, and we were so much looking forward to firmly establishing this wonderful event as an annual tradition with an even bigger show planned for this year to celebrate sixty years of the National Trust for Scotland’s School of Heritage Gardening based at Threave Garden. Covid-19 has obviously stopped us from doing that, but that doesn’t mean that our enthusiasm to share our wonderful gardens is any way diminished – now more than ever we are all appreciating the importance of outside space, and our NTS gardening team in Dumfries & Galloway have an abundance of expert knowledge that they are so keen to share. We are so grateful for the help and support of the Galloway Glens Scheme, whose vital partnership we really cannot do without, in helping us organise and host this online show. This is a valuable opportunity in these difficult times for us to reconnect with our friends, supporters, and communities near and far.
To book your free place for the Online NTS Threave Gardening Show on 14th June, please visit here: https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/the-threave-gardening-show-in-the-galloway-glens-tickets-106623828742
The Online Threave Gardening Show forms part of a series of free partnership events being undertaken through June 2020 by the Galloway Glens Scheme, a National Lottery Heritage Funded initiative in the Ken/Dee Valley in South West Scotland. The full programme of events is outlined here: https://gallowayglens.org/online-events-programme-launched-june-2020/
Nick Chisholm, Galloway Glens Project Officer, said:
Dumfries and Galloway is a stunning part of Scotland and its gardens are amongst the most loved in the country. To be able to harness the expertise from these leading gardens is truly amazing and will provide some much-needed light in these difficult times. I must pay credit to the whole team at NTS, this is going to be an exciting but challenging project, at no point has there been any doubts, everyone is just raring to go! ”
The National Trust for Scotland is the charity that celebrates and protects Scotland’s heritage. It relies on the support of its members and donors to carry out its important work of caring for the natural and built heritage of Scotland for everyone to enjoy.
From coastlines to castles, art to architecture, wildlife to wildernesses, the National Trust for Scotland exists to protect the national and natural treasures we all love. If you would like to join or donate to help them do their vital work, please go to www.nts.org.uk.
The Galloway Glens Scheme is a suite of projects taking place up and down the Ken/Dee valley in Dumfries & Galloway seeking to connect people to their heritage, while boosting the local economy and supporting sustainable communities. It is a partnership of the public and private sectors, supported primarily by a grant from the National Lottery Heritage Fund. For more details about the scheme or the project supported, please visit www.gallowayglens.org.
