Facebook Friends?

Well after quite a lot of deliberating we have started a Facebook page!  I wasn't sure about it, especially after having spent several months trying to get the grips of twitter and tweeting!  However, more and more businesses and people of all ages seem to be using it and as someone pointed out to me, at least that way they could reply to some of our random ponderings on the blog!

So here it is:   Bowhill House & Country Estate

I hope you will come over and 'like' us!  I'll try to keep it up-to-date with pictures, events etc but do let us know what you think, or add photo's or comments of your own if you wish.

Hopefully see you on facebook!  Sarah

Volunteer Award

Last Wednesday night we were overjoyed to pick up the Exceptional Voluntary Organisation Awards at this years Youth Volunteer Awards.  This is fantastic recognition for our Ranger Service and volunteers who we hope will continue to work alongside us for many year’s to come.  The Volunteers are invaluable to what we do here and also what we can offer here at Bowhill and we really couldn’t do it without them! Thank you

Lynsey, Countryside Ranger

Raring to go

A Fond Farewell

Leaving is always a time of reflection.

It doesn’t seem like 23 years ago  since I came through the hallowed portals of Bowhill trembling at the knees.  Had I known then what a roller coaster of a ride I was in for I might have trembled even more?

In that time I have been privileged to have met and worked with so many wonderful people, fantastic colleagues and made some great friends and it is with gratitude that I look back on some unbelievable experiences; the memories are indelibly imprinted on my mind.

Bowhill has been an exciting journey.  Thank you all for being my travelling companions along a large and important part of the journey sharing the joys, the struggles, the laughter and the occasional tears.

Continue to aim high team – you are simply the best!

Trish

Christmas in January

Full time and seasonal staff finally overcame the weather problems of the last six weeks and held their annual Christmas lunch on January 13th.  Two long serving members of the guiding staff, Susan Nixon and Emma Robertson were presented with flowers on their retirement by Trish, the House Manager.

Ghost Walks

If you go down to the woods today….  Well, on Saturday anyway, you would have seen a big brown bear sliding down the high slide!  As part of our Halloween ghost walks, one of our volunteers dressed up as a bear and entertained the audiences throughout the evening. He was joined by a ghostly troupe of others and the Border Clansmen who re enacted stores from the past of the Scotts of Buccleuch to much laughter.  Many thanks are due to all members of staff, family and friends who worked so hard to produce an evening of fantastic storytelling, haunting music and lighting at this most ghostly time of year.  The weather was crisp and mild and a lovely evening was enjoyed by all.

Helen

Bowhill Work Experience

For my work experience, I thought I would go to volunteer at Bowhill.  I have never really experienced what it is like to be a ranger but the team at Bowhill sure showed me.  It never occurred to me the wide range of jobs and activities ranger work involved.  From litter picking to helping school children navigate their way round the estate.  I have done it during the course of the week. 

I have really enjoyed working here – a big thanks to everyone at Bowhill.

 James – Work experience student

James on work experience

This week we have been delighted to have James Conington on work experience with us from Earlston High School.  He made a great addition to the team, getting stuck into all the jobs we do before public opening and helping with school groups and with our regular volunteers.  Here is a picture of James (second on right) with our Friday Reivers volunteer group.  It was a pleasure to work with James and we wish him all the best for his future. 

Sam – Countryside Education Ranger

Scarecrow Volunteers!

Turning up at Bowhill, one fine August afternoon, we discovered that our task for the day was to build a scarecrow together with Michael, the work experience student. Only problem being, none of us had done this before.  However, help was on hand in the shape of Sam, the scarecrow expert, sometimes masquerading as a full time ranger.  We would like to fill you in on our afternoon through the mode of an acostic poem.

 Sam was our expert

Could any of us draw?  Michael could.

A skeletal frame was built.

Recycled materials were gathered, from Scrap Store.

Everyone contributed some clothes,

Construction took place under a tree next to the bins.

Realistic finishing touches were added, including a sword.

Our scarecrow was complete.

William Wallace was our creation.

 Jim and Rachel, Volunteer Rangers.

Thistle Awards

As I am sure you will have seen from the logo on the right we are delighted to announce that we have been nominated for a Scottish Thistle Award! 

We have been nominated in the 'Extra Mile' category, we will find out on the 29th October if we have been successful, fingers crossed!

Sarah

The season is nearly over

Sitting in my little hut
Looking at the rain
The season’s nearly over now
And I think that I’m still sane

Another lovely summer
Umbrellas and coats are the dress
Kids with coloured wellies on
The weather! They couldn’t care less

Never mind it’s been busy enough
And we have had some sunny days
The visitors do enjoy themselves
In lots of different ways

Some like to go for a walk
Others want a house tour
The playground attracts lots of kids
And the tearoom for some is the lure

31st August will see us close
But we’re open October holiday week
And there’s plenty other activities on
Go on t’internet and have a peek

If you’re reading this you’ll have found the site
It’s laid out nice and clear
And if you cant attend these events
We hope to see you all next year

Gilbert

Skull-king in the Vista

The usually tranquil atmosphere at Bowhill was exchanged for the noise of battle, clashing of swords and thwack of arrows as Reivers and Archers invaded the vista last weekend.  But the bloodthirsty past of the Scotts of Bucclecuh had not really returned to haunt us; we were celebrating our first Reivers and Archers day at Bowhill when local groups were helping give a taste of the sports of sword fighting and archery.

Selkirk archery club gave demonstrations of their sport and offered lessons to interested spectators.  Meanwhile, the Border Clansmen were indulging in sword fighting and encouraging the crowd to join in.  For those concerned with safety, fear not – the little ones were provided with rubber swords, so they couldn’t slay each other, just cause the odd moment of panic for mum and dad!

It was a lovely afternoon blessed by warm sunshine and we thank everyone who came along to join in the fun.

The past may not really have come back to haunt us, but I certainly got a momentary shiver up my spine when amidst the shouting and clash of steel I spied George the skeleton lurking under an enormous hat. Not so much a whisper of days gone by perhaps, as a reminder that we need to make the most of the summer days left….

The Reivers will be joining us for our Haunted History of Buccleuch event on 30th October – book early as this always sells out fast

Helen

Bowhill... a work experience

Through out my summer holidays I have been working at Bowhill. So far I have started work on a scarecrow with Jim & Rachel, I have helped out with ranger events such as den building and crafts as well as a pond dip with a group of kids from Chernobyl.

I always enjoy working here and it lets me see a different side or the ranger work when Bowhill is open.

Michael Paton, Volunteer

In the hut

In my little hut each year
I spend many a happy day
Meeting and greeting all the folks
Hoping they will enjoy their stay
 
People come from near and far
To experience Bowhill's charm
It's important to make them welcome first
A bit of "patter" does no harm.
 
A good warm welcome is the main job
Although you have to stay aware
There's lots of prices, tickets and advice
That all add up to " Customer Care!"

Gilbert, Kiosk Attendant

July, July

After an extremely busy June with school visits (well done Sam) the team at Bowhill House and Country Estate are looking forward to Thursday 1st July with much anticipation as this sees the house re-open for the 2010 season.

The house will be open every day in July and August with tours every half hour by our highly skilled and knowledgeable guides. (Please see our Visitor Information section for further details).

Why not pop in and see the Portrait Miniatures; a display of outstanding masterpieces from one of the world’s greatest private collections. Some of the miniatures on display attracted 10,000 visitors in two and a half weeks while on view at the Scottish National Portrait Gallery in 1997.

Trish Gray
House Manager

Orienteering at Bowhill

Primary School Orienteering Competition - Thursday May 27th 2010

 Congratulations to Drumlanrig on winning the Bowhill Orienteering Team Trophy and to Trinity for winning the Bowhill Fastest Pair Trophy on a very successful fun day of orienteering. It was a very closely contested competition with nearly 180 pupils  from 9 primary schools taking part in the event which involved pupils running around a 2.3 kilometre course map reading, finding controls and punching their cards.
However, there was no stopping Sam Finn and Ayrton Sonkur from Trinity winning the fastest pair trophy in a record time of 10 minutes and 2 seconds. Likewise Drumlanrig’s team trophy was also won in a record time of 36 mins and 19 secs.

 These are fun competitions which allow all pupils to take part at their own pace, get some real exercise, make decisions for themselves and have a brilliant time.

The results showed that pupils had learned a great deal from their map and compass sessions and were a credit to their schools.

At the prize giving in front of Bowhill House Mr Catto, the event organiser, thanked all the teachers, parents and school staff involved who helped the event run so smoothly and to Lynsey Menmuir the Ranger at Bowhill who helped prepare the course and coordinate the day.

Trish

The problem with the Scottish Weather…

It is said that the British always talk about the weather and when I look back at the blog I see that we do in fact mention it quite a lot; probably because it matters so much for the success of some of our events.  I always manage to get caught out somehow – last weekend in the heat I planted lettuce in my garden which will no doubt have died following the cold spell this week.  Also last week some friends and I walked the West Highland Way, in glorious sunshine and unbothered by that traditional Scottish pest the midge.   I had taken midge repellent but no sunscreen…  Ah well.  Come and enjoy Bowhill in any season.  You can even find Skin So Soft for sale.  Though not promoted as an insect repellent it seems to do the trick.  See you soon

Helen

What a buzz at Bowhill!

We had great fun last Saturday at our BBC Springwatch Wild Day Out at Bowhill.  We looked at butterflies, bees, plants, fungi and mosses with our wildlife experts who helped us identify and record species.  

Cathy, our bumblebee expert, showed us how to catch a bee safely and how to look at its bottom to help find out what species it was!  There are 6 common bumblebees in the UK and we found 4 of them – the White-tailed, Early, Common carder and Buff-tailed. 

 As I was writing this today we were visited by another bumblebee in the office and I took a photo of it settling on Helen’s Theatre file!

 Our Visitor Centre is currently full of great leaflets, free bookmarks and information kindly sent to us by the BBC, so do drop in and pick up some freebies at the weekends and Bank Holiday Monday this month.

 Sam, Countryside Education Ranger

A suprise visitor - 18 April

After the good weather for much of the Easter holidays, Sunday 18th April was a damp cold day.  We did have one surprise visitor to the adventure playground to lift the spirits - an otter came up behind the kiosk and made its way across the road and up into the wood!

Gilbert, Kiosk Attendant

Drystone Dyking

During the first week of March the Countryside Rangers and Volunteer Rangers attended a two day drystone dyking course in Lauder with Neil Moffat.

On the first day we were lucky to enjoy the first warm and sunny day of the year which reflected in our enthusiasm for the task.  By the end of this day we had demolished a rather neglected section of wall and rebuilt it in the solid, roman-esque structure that can be seen in the photo.  Big smiles all round!

However, the second day was a slightly different story!  Strong winds, plummeting temperatures and persistent rain!  Although this only added to our determination to complete our second section of wall in record time!

We were delighted to receive our “Beginners Stage 1 Dry Stone Dyking Course”.  Neil’s expertise and great patience helped us to achieve a level of competence which we did not believe would be feasible at the start of the course.

All of us really enjoyed the two days and are now utilising our new skills on the reconstruction of the Victorian water garden.

Jim & Rachel, Volunteer Rangers

Pond Dip

We had a fantastic sunny day on Saturday for pond dipping in the Upper Loch.  We found water louse, water boatman, freshwater hoglouse, leeches and lots of caddis fly in cases made out of bits of plants and pebbles to protect their soft bodies.  We knew we had lesser water boatman as they were swimming on their fronts…..greater water boatman swim on their backs!  A special find was the bright red non-biting midge larvae and some of us also caught shrimps.  Did you know that shrimp eyes are on the top and bottom of their heads to help them see what is above and below them?  Perhaps that’s why they shimmy as they move?  We had a great treat in finding lots of toads and saw their spawn in the water.  As the summer comes the spawn will hatch into tadpoles before changing into a toad – lots to watch out for on your next visit to Bowhill.  More pond dipping planned for August 4th – hope you can come along.

Sam, Countryside Education Ranger

Easter Fun Day - Cash for Kids

The Way Fort-ward - 29 March 2010

Yesterday Bobby the Beaver from Radio Borders and pupils from Knowepark Primary School officially opened the newest addition to Bowhill's adventure playground - A Fort!

The fort was built by local craftsman Calum Flanders and has everything from a climbing wall to fireman's poll.  Why not come along in the Easter holidays to see it yourself!

Award Winners!

Using our Initiative!

The team at Bowhill are delighted to announce that the Buccleuch Heritage Trust was the winner in the Homecoming Scotland Initiative Award category at the prestigious Scottish Borders Business Excellence Awards held at the Scottish Borders College Campus at Heriot Watt University on Friday 19th March.

The award was given in recognition of the outstanding contribution to the local economy, during the Year of Homecoming 2009, with a series of events celebrating the first ever international Clan Scott Gathering held at Bowhill last September.

We would like to thank everyone who helped to organise all the events especially the Estates management team at Bowhill who worked tirelessly throughout and helped to make the Muster such a success.

The New Season Approaches

With only two weeks to go to public opening all across the estate small teams of people are working hard to make sure that everything is in place. The gift shop now stocks many local crafts and the Minstrel tea room has an updated menu.   The Victorian kitchen and Visitor centre have had their annual spring clean and  the gardeners have been hard at work clearing around the upper loch which has been opened up to give breathtaking views from the front of the house.

You can be assured of a warm welcome from everyone when you visit.

Trish

Marley & Me

I’m beginning to feel that Spring is on its way at long last.  One of the pleasures of working here is the ability to walk in the beautiful Estate and watch the seasons changing.  Today I walked rescue dog, Marley, around the upper and lower lochs and was astonished to see ice still on our top loch, so we’ve a way to go yet.  The snowdrops are still blooming and the daffodils are beginning to poke their heads above the soil, nicely in time for Easter we hope.  The swans have returned to the upper loch too, always a welcome site, even if they did make Marley quake in his paws!

Helen

Scottish Borders Business Excellence Awards - 8 March

We have been nominated for a 2010 Scottish Borders Excellence Award under the Homecoming Scotland 2009 initiative.  This has been sponsored by Homecoming Scotland and is a special award to recognise an outstanding contribution to the local economy during the Year of Homecoming.

Winners are to be announced on March 19th.  Fingers Crossed!

Sarah

London - bright lights, big city

Well, the visit to Windsor and London was certainly memorable.  The Earl of Wessex was charming and it was fascinating to see the State Apartments of Windsor Castle and to see the refurbishment after the fire there some years ago.

We stayed in a very comfortable hotel too – a real treat.  The day following the presentation we headed into London.  We hadn’t bargained on it being half term and it was even busier than we had imagined.  At one point I was trying to get from Piccadilly to Kings Cross and the underground platform was so busy no more folk were allowed down.  I joined a huge queue and when the gates finally opened it was just a boiling mass of humans pushing and shoving to get to the trains.  It was an experience I was glad not to miss, but give me the peace of the Scottish Borders any day. I didn’t get to the Van Gogh exhibition either as the waiting time was 3 hours and it was pouring it down. I decided my dedication to the artistic cause wasn’t enough for that so took myself off to the V and A instead.  And my clever plan to travel light with just a rucksack on my back was very clever at the time, but my shoulders have been sore ever since.  Note to self: there is no comfortable way to enjoy London.  Unless, perhaps, you are the Earl of Wessex…

 I met Lynsey at Kings Cross in time for the train back and she was equally exhausted.  We congratulated ourselves on getting to the train on time and were really quite glad when the beautiful scenery of the Northumberland and Berwickshire coasts came into sight

Helen

Sandford Success

Last week Lynsey (Countryside Ranger) and Helen (Education and Events Manager) travelled to London to receive our Sandford Award for Heritage Education. 

Here is Lynsey receiving the award from the Earl of Wessex.

First Impressions

It has been a great first month working at Bowhill and getting to know the people and wildlife here!  I have been trying out some of the great walks around the estate as research for a new Ranger Service leaflet. Our snowdrops have arrived and our swans are back on the Upper Loch as the ice continues to melt.  Most days I hear woodpeckers hamming on the trees near the house, but so far the red squirrels remain elusive.  What a wonderful place to work!

Sam, Countryside Education Ranger

Special Delivery - 12 February

Spring Summer Leaflet 2010

This morning our brand new joint Theatre and Events leaflet was delivered, remember to get yours or if you can't wait download the above pdf!  If you would like us to send one out to you by post please email bht@buccleuch.com

Sarah

The Big Smoke

Lynsey and I are off to Windsor on Monday to be presented with our Sandford Award for Heritage Education by Prince Edward.  Yippee!  A little reward for a lot of hard work. Lynsey plans to do the tourist thing on a big red bus round London afterwards (I think you’d be better on the horse Lynsey!) but the older half of the duo is visiting the Van Gogh exhibition at the Royal Academy. Wonder how two rural folk will survive in the big smoke?  Watch this space…….

Helen

Green Tourism. A step too far?

A viable way to lower our carbon footprint?

 Not sure...

New Start for the NewYear

We are delighted to welcome Sam Ranscombe, our new Countryside Education Ranger, to the team at Bowhill.  On her journey to work Sam has had to contend with the worst snow fall and icy road conditions in the Borders for a very long time.  Things can only get better Sam!

12th January 2010 - The early bird..

The bird table at home is extremely busy at first light and again in the early afternoon.  Regular appearances by a woodpecker, robins, chaffinches, tits of all shapes and sizes, blackbirds and the ever resourceful jackdaws provide some entertaining viewing.

Trish

The Journey to Work 11 January 2010

Listening to the radio and hearing the struggles others are having on the roads, I feel fortunate to live close to work!  The walk from home today was magical albeit a bit slippy.  On walking up the drive I came upon a flock of blackbirds looking for something to eat and although they stopped and looked at me they continued to search as I passed by.  They were there again on my walk home, so tommorrow I will make sure that I have something in my bag to give them.

Trish, House Manager

Happy 2010