Heavy traffic volume forces closure of trail

An attraction on the fringes of the Strath has been forced to close for the season because of the volume of people wanting to visit.

The sunflower trail at Gloagburn Farm Shop, near Tibbermore, has proved a hit with visitors.

But on Saturday, a huge influx of day trippers left the shop “overwhelmed”.

Big queues of traffic could be seen waiting to gain entry to the site, which allowed people and their dogs to wander around a spectacular route through the sunflowers.

Last week the Herald reported how images of the trail taken from a drone had captured the imagination of people on social media.

A post on the Gloagburn Farm Shop Facebook page over the weekend said: “Hey everyone, it is with regret that we will have to close our sunflower trail with immediate affect.

“We were totally overwhelmed around midday today with the sheer volume of people who arrived to visit.

“As you can see from the images, having such a large volume of traffic on the local roads is simply too much to handle. We have to consider our responsibilities to our local community, neighbours and staff.

“We are totally blown away with how many of you have wanted to visit. The power of social media is incredible.

“We are sorry to those who had planned to visit tomorrow or next week and to those who came today that we had to turn away, we hope you can understand our reasons.

“Thanks very much to everyone who managed to visit and enjoy the sunflowers throughout the past few weeks. We have loved how much joy people have had from their walks in the sunflowers.

“Needless to say our thinking caps will be on to make arrangements for next year that doesn’t leave anyone disappointed.”