At the beginning of June, members of Ardentinny Community Trust made a Knowledge and Skill Exchange visit to Amisfield Walled Garden in Haddington. The visit was funded by the Development Trust Association Scotland and the host garden also benefited by way of a £200 donation from the DTA.
Although larger in size and five years further on, the Amisfield project is similar to that of Glenfinart Walled Garden, as they too began by relying on local fund-raising and donations. The main purpose of the visit was to measure the distance they had come; the problems they had encountered and how they were resolved; and where, with hindsight, they felt they might have made more progress by adopting a different approach.
The group was in agreement that the most beneficial aspect of the visit was the information gleaned on garden layout and crop rotation; and on how they had solved the problems of tree removal, path laying, and the storage of produce and equipment.
Ardentinny Community Trust is most appreciative of the host garden’s formal display and presentation; one-to-one garden tours; question and answer session; and very generous hospitality and hopes it might reciprocate when Glenfinart Walled Garden is five years down the line, if not before.
