Our first newsletter of the year, February 2017
Wonderful to see our volunteers back at the garden last week for our first session of this new year. The garden felt wonderfully peaceful – just that point in the year when everything draws breath and you can almost see the natural turnaround towards spring.
The snow drops around the house here are stunning and looking so bright and fresh in today’s brilliant sunshine – you can really catch the lovely scent of them in the still air and they are such a welcome indicator of longer days ahead.
Our current volunteer session is still on a Thursday afternoon from 1pm till 4pm – tea and cake provided! Please contact me directly on 01620880207 or email june@gilmertonhouse.com if you are interested in coming along or would like more information.
Often under appreciated, snowdrops are such a simple and beautiful flower and do particularly well in Scotland.
We don’t think of visiting gardens often in February here but Scotland’s Gardens run a fabulous Snowdrop Festival with over 20 gardens open throughout February and March.
Check on their website for full details and enjoy some winter garden visits to blow away the cobwebs.
This lovely hellebore is at Shepherd House garden in Inveresk village, open next weekend, 25th and 26th of February.
Recently assessed G
ilmerton House have received the very highest rating from Green Tourism – the garden plays a significant role in this accreditation and we are very proud to be associated with the award which includes
Achieving the highest standards of sustainability
Using the latest technologies
Green procurement – working with local suppliers to provide fresh, local and often organic items
Changes in working practices, bringing significant benefits to the business, community and supply chain.
We were thrilled to kick the year off with a most generous donation from Tillicoultry quarries who run Longyester gravel quarry near Gifford. Tillicoultry is a family run business and we contacted Wallace Menzies to tell him about the project and ask for some help towards making our paths more accessible for volunteers – we would like to thank them for helping us towards this goal.
East Lothian Council have been another major contributor to the garden project, awarding us the Enterprise Start up grant in December which will enable us to create our own website – watch this space for more news!