New community garden to host open day

Date: Wednesday 19 June

News Release

June 2024

New community garden to host open day

The gates to Rattray Community Garden will be open this Saturday for a special midsummer celebration.

The garden, which is located just off Balmoral Road in Rattray, will be open to members of the public from 1pm to 5pm on Saturday, June 22.

There will be a plant and produce sale, a mini beasts hunt, refreshments and home bakes, a raffle and a bric-a-brac stall.

Tours of the garden, led by some of the volunteers who are leading the development of the community-owned facility, will also be available.

Rattray Community Garden, which has been home to award-winning environmental group Blairgowrie and Rattray in Bloom for a number of years, was secured as a community asset for the town and purchased by Blairgowrie and Rattray Development Trust (BRDT) with support from the Scottish Land Fund.

The purchase and redevelopment of the community garden was highlighted as something local people wanted as part of the community action plan consultation exercise carried out in 2020.

Since then, a team of volunteers has been working tirelessly behind the scenes to develop the site, and around £130,000 has been raised for the purchase and development of the garden so far.

Work has included clearing the site, turning over the ground and removing stones to increase the productivity of the land, installing utilities including a water supply, drainage and electricity, creating a network of paths to ensure that all parts of the garden are accessible for all abilities and ages, repointing the walls, replacing unstable brickwork and putting in new coping stones, installing new gates and fencing, re-slating one of the outbuildings, reskinning the existing polytunnels, building a new greenhouse and raised beds, and creating 23 beds for planting using a ‘no-dig’ approach.

The idea behind the garden is to create a welcoming, relaxing area where local groups can meet, supporting their health and wellbeing and reducing social isolation. It will provide a place where people can develop gardening skills and observe wildlife.

It will also help facilitate intergenerational activity and educational sessions, increase biodiversity with careful management and planting, and grow produce that can be sold at subsidised prices in BRDT’s BaRI Food and Refill Store as part of the BaRI Food Project’s ongoing efforts to reduce food costs and encourage the growing of food locally.

A ‘Friends of Rattray Community Garden’ scheme was also recently launched to enable individuals or families to directly support the garden, its projects, campaigns and appeals.

Jean Smith is one of the volunteers involved with Rattray Community Garden.

She said: “We’re really looking forward to our midsummer event at Rattray Community Garden and hope that as many people as possible will pop-in and say hello, and enjoy the entertainment and activities we have lined up – especially the tours of the garden to see all the hard work that our team of volunteers has put in over the last year or so – and make the most of the opportunity to purchase some locally-grown fresh produce.

“Summer is a lovely time of year in a garden, particularly one such as Rattray Community Garden which is part of ongoing efforts locally to establish a hub for food production, education and wellbeing, while contributing to efforts to achieve net zero, improve the environmental sustainability of the town and support the work done by Blairgowrie and Rattray in Bloom.

“Our open day coincides with a wider bio-blitz taking place in Blairgowrie and Rattray this weekend and we’ve been working with organisers Biodiversity Blair on a mini beast hunt in the garden which people can take part in as part of that. There will also be a ‘salad bar’ where people will be able to plant and take home their own salad.

“We’re very proud of what our volunteers have achieved in the garden and can’t wait to show it off to everyone!”

Rattray Community Garden is located off Balmoral Road in Blairgowrie at postcode PH10 7AB. Parking at the garden is very limited so parking on the surrounding streets is advised.

To find out more about the Garden, follow ‘Rattray Community Garden’ on Facebook, see online at www.rattraycommunitygarden.org.uk or email info@rattraycommunitygarden.org.uk

ENDS For further information, images or media enquiries, please contact Clare McMicking on 07514 343 042 or media@brdt.org.uk

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