View from the Castle
WELCOME to the first of a new regular column from Tarbert Castle Trust.
The volunteer work party on the first Saturday in March saw a big turnout of 16 people working hard to complete this year’s community orchard planting with blueberries and blackcurrants.
They also put up more safety fencing and tidied up the site in preparation for the growing season.
Trust volunteers began preparing rootstock and have taken and stored scions from local apple trees.
Experimenting
The youngest volunteer prepared labels for the potted rootstock. The plan is to begin experimenting with apple tree grafting in April - keep your fingers crossed we will see Tarbert Castle apple trees in the next few years.
Tarbert Academy pupils are regularly using the woodland to explore the woodland environment as part of their forest school and have been helping by weeding and replacement planting in the willow area.
Planting
The youth worker at the school has worked through the winter with youngsters at the cas- tle, planting 70 trees as a shelter belt for the orchard and taking their turn on the rota to feed the sheep weekly.
Grant
The trust has submitted an application for a grant to help train volunteers in the care of bees to pollinate the orchard. This should go forward to the next round of Co-op local funding so watch out and vote for Tarbert Castle Trust.
Trust members met with Historic Environment (HE) Scotland representatives to discuss the formation of a path linking the existing paths to the Kintyre way route.
They have refused consent for this in the past but the HE chairwoman who visited the castle this year informed members staff had been instructed to work more closely with community groups who looked after monuments.
Busy year
Tarbert Castle Trust is looking forward to another busy visitor year at the Royal Castle of Tarbert and our volunteers will be working hard to ensure it remains a welcoming, accessible and interesting historic site for those visiting the area.