Auchindrain for Argyll

In 2007 thanks to grant aid from the Royal Horticultural Society and the Scottish Museums Council, Auchindrain Museum was able to work with Patsy Dyer, an award-winning organic gardener to restore one of the historic walled gardens or kailyards associated with the farming township of Auchindrain.

Project Outcomes

The walled garden adjacent to the one-room, thatched cottage known as Bell Pol’s House (Building M) has now been restored and growing within it are:

• Vegetables including organic potatoes, turnips, broad and runner beans, chard, cabbage, leeks, squash and beetroot
• Fruit including gooseberries, raspberries, strawberries, apple and plum trees
• Herbs including chives, borage, chicory, flax, thyme, sage and rosemary
• Dye plants including Sweet William, Clematis, Honeysuckle, Ivy, Poppy and Indigo

Thanks to a donation of seeds by the Heritage Seed Library, the garden is also planted with a range of rare heritage vegetables including Russian Red Kale, Marrow Fat Kale and Asparagus Kale. The garden is organic and traditional and historic techniques such as using seaweed as fertilizer and growing potatoes in lazybeds have been used. The garden will add colour to the Museum site in spring and summer, historical interest and opportunities for lifelong learning activities all year round.

Community Participation

The Museum worked with local people, Friends of the Museum, school children, Brownies and gardeners from the Tign-na-Linne Garden Project, which provides work experience for people with mental health difficulties to design the layout of the garden and to propagate and plant fruit, vegetables, dye plant and herbs.

The 1^st Minard Brownies are working with the Museum to propagate vegetables and herbs, which cannot be planted until later in the year. They will then help to weed the garden and add more plants as part of their “Gardener” badge.

Benefits Of The Project

The benefits of the project have been that there has been increased participation in the Museum by local people and community groups. The people who have worked on the restoration of Bell Pol’s garden have learnt new skills and have helped to develop the Museum in an individual capacity. During the course of the project the Museum has been able to support the learning of individuals and groups and provide work experience for disadvantaged people such as the Tign-na-Linne gardeners. The restoration of Bell Pol’s garden has provided the means by which the Museum has been able to interpret the Township of Auchindrain in its wider historical context. It has also enabled the Museum to grow vegetables, fruit, dye plants and herbs, which can be, used in future lifelong learning activities such as historical cookery and dye making workshops. The restoration of Bell Pol’s garden has also made the Museum site look more attractive and inviting.