It is with great pleasure that National Trust for Scotland can announce the reopening of Threave Garden & Estate in Castle Douglas to the public on Monday, 6th July. Threave will open five days a week (Thursday, Friday, Saturday, Sunday, Monday), 10am to 5pm, until further notice.
The popular Gardens will be operating a much reduced visitor service in terms of catering and visitor engagement to ensure visitor safety, as well as following best practice sanitisation protocols and social distancing measures such as one-way systems, staggered queues, and a takeaway café. Toilets will be open on site.
As with all gated National Trust for Scotland properties during this crisis period, the garden at Threave has, like us at home, largely been in a state of lockdown with only essential activities undertaken. Over the last couple of weeks, as more gardeners and students at Threave’s famous NTS School of Heritage Gardening have been able to get back to work, the whole team has been working hard to get the garden back up to our high standards. Michael Lawrie, Head Gardener for Dumfries & Galloway and the School says,
“Without doubt, this has been one of the toughest experiences for me as a Head Gardener, to try to prioritise resources during the busiest growing period and, in recent months, such ideal weather conditions! It’s all hands on deck just now as we try to cut and weed our sixty-four-acre garden back into shape. It is a real credit to the whole team how hard they have been working, with such dedication and resilience. It will still take us a while yet to get back to where we want to be, and just like in our own lives, we’ll likely have to adjust to a new normal for gardens too. In the meantime, it will be a great boost to us all to see our visitors return to Threave.”
Despite the restrictions, Threave has still endeavoured to preserve its reputation for embracing new ideas and developing new projects, especially this year, the sixtieth anniversary of the School of Heritage Gardening, as Sam Gallacher, Operations Manager for Dumfries & Galloway explains,
“We are so pleased that so many visitors have already had a virtual experience of Threave Garden and the School of Heritage Gardening with our Threave Gardening Show Online on Sunday, 14 June, brought to your sofa in partnership with our great supporters at the Galloway Glens Scheme. This was a brand-new experience for us, a live event of almost two hours, streamed live on location. It is amazing that over 1000 people have watched the show and it is a real testament to what partnership working in areas such as ours can achieve. That being said, it is no substitute for a proper visit to Threave Garden. We are all very excited that we will be able to welcome our visitors again at Threave from Monday, 6th July. Now it can really start to feel like summer!”
As the tourism and heritage sectors starts to reopen, it is still important to consider ongoing restrictions and government advice, especially when visiting any NTS property, as Ian McLelland, General Manager for South & West outlines:
“It is a real pleasure to be able to gradually reopen some National Trust for Scotland properties in the area. Alongside Threave, the grounds and gardens of Culzean Castle and Brodick Castle will also reopen on Monday, 6th July. When you visit, while the properties will still be beautiful, some of the experience has changed. Please follow the rules on site, they are there for everyone’s safety. Also, it’s important to note that the five-mile restriction on travel remains in place for the moment, please bear this in mind when choosing which property to visit. There is more information on our website on what to expect when visiting our places this summer. If you have any concerns on site, our staff will be very willing to answer any questions. To all our members, visitors, and supporters, on behalf of everyone in NTS South & West Region, welcome back.”
Threave Garden & Estate in Castle Douglas, DG7 1RX, will reopen to the public on Monday, 6th July. Threave will be open five days a week (Thursday, Friday, Saturday, Sunday, Monday), 10am to 5pm, until further notice.
