Volunteer Gardening Opportunities
Volunteer Gardening Opportunities Are you a keen gardener and/or would like to learn more about horticulture? Previous experience is not essential but you must be practically minded. Do you have free time during the week and would like to get involved on a regular basis or are able to volunteer for a complete week or even 6 months [...]
Whole Environment Green Leaders Retreat – Ardtornish, Scotland
"The major problems in the world are the result of the difference between the way that nature works and the way that people think." Gregory Bateson - anthropologist, social scientist and cyberneticist Set in 35,000 acres of privately owned wilderness on the shores of Loch Aline, this 3-day retreat brings together leaders from across the [...]
Summer On The Reserve
July is the height of summer and this year the weather has been blissfully warm with just the odd damp day. This weather is well suited for our butterflies; they simply do nothing without the warmth of the sunshine. By July many of our butterfly species have come to the end of their flight period, [...]
Ardtornish Estate Newsletter Summer 2021
Sir Nicholas Goodison Hugh Raven Nicholas Goodison, who has died aged 87, was a polymathic public figure who loved Ardtornish. Known mainly as the architect of the root-and-branch reforms that revolutionised financial dealings in the City of London, reasserting it as one of the pre-eminent global financial hubs, he was highly unusual in achieving distinction in a [...]
Garlic & butter Kale
A delicious side dish for any meal. Ingredients 500g Ardtornish Kitchen Garden kale 40g butter 1 Ardtornish Kitchen Garden garlic clove, sliced Method Trim and discard the tough stalks from the kale and roughly chop the leaves. Rinse well, then shake dry. Melt the butter in a frying [...]
Hot, cold, wet, dry… we’ve had it all and not quite in the right order!
Formal gardens Grass cutting is now well underway and some of the larger lower lawns are being converted to native wildflower meadows where appropriate. This will increase biodiversity of the gardens encouraging wildlife and increasing pollinators which are sadly in decline. Paths, edges and picnic areas are still being mown to allow unhindered access and enjoyment of these areas. [...]
