Rattray Community Garden
Rattray Community Garden is based in what used to be a walled garden for Mount Ericht House in the heart of the historic town of Blairgowrie and Rattray.
Nestled on the banks of the River Ericht, the ‘Berry Toon’ is the largest town in Perthshire and is renowned for its succulent soft fruit – in particular raspberries, strawberries, cherries and blueberries.
Blairgowrie and Rattray is Scotland’s first designated biodiversity town, in recognition of the community’s commitment to enhancing the local environment, being more nature friendly, increasing the growing of healthy food locally, and increasing pollinators.
Rattray Community Garden aims to be a welcoming, relaxing area where local residents, groups and visitors to the town can meet, supporting their health and wellbeing and reducing social isolation, develop gardening skills, and observe wildlife. It is also the home of the award winning Blair in Bloom Group.
Blairgowrie and Rattray Development Trust (BRDT) is the owner of the land and supports the garden for the benefit of the community and all who come to enjoy it - whether that is through gardening, volunteering, events, art or or just to relax. A number of other community groups and organisations are becoming regular users of the space.
Open to people of all ages, Rattray Community Garden aims to highlight the benefits of intergenerational activities and will host educational sessions. The garden will also help contribute to reducing food poverty and increasing the access to healthy food locally.
Fundraising
While a significant amount of work has already been carried out to get us to this point, more needs to be done in order to allow the community to benefit fully from the garden’s potential.
The two main projects are:
- Demolition of a derelict building on the site which cannot be saved or made safe;
- Conversion of the single-story building to create a general purpose room, toilets and a small kitchen for volunteers and visitors to the garden, and for a new storage shed.
The combined estimated costs for both these projects are expected to be around £60,000 (updated Dec 2023).
We also need to generate regular income to cover the overheads of running the garden.
Regular fundraising will therefore be a continuous process for the foreseeable future.
To find out more about Rattray Community Garden, including how you can get involved in supporting the work we are doing or how you can benefit from the new facilities, email us - info@rattraycommunitygarden.org.uk
Alternatively, find us on Facebook by searching for ‘Rattray Community Garden’.
Committee Members
The committee is there to ensure that the garden continues to fulfil its aspirations to benefit the wider community by providing a welcoming and relaxing area where people can meet, develop new skills, grow more food locally, support biodiversity and the overall environmental sustainability of the town and reduce social isolation.
Chair - Lesley McDonald
Treasurer - Steve Johnson
Secretary - Jean Smith
Member - William Wilson
Member - Stuart Nichol
Member - Stefan
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Get Involved and Contact Us
We are always keen to hear from anyone who may be interested in volunteering in the garden in any capacity – whether that is helping out with the garden itself and planting or weeding for a couple of hours a week, or just being on site when the garden is open to the community. Or perhaps you’d like to join the committee and support the ‘behind the scenes’ work.
If you would like to find out more about the work that goes on at Rattray Community Garden and how it can benefit people of all ages and from all backgrounds, then please just get in touch and we will do our best to facilitate that for you.
Wherever your interest in the community garden lies, we would love to hear from you!