WOODLAND OPENS TO THE PUBLIC

An ancient woodland which once welcomed royalty and Scotland’s National Bard Robert Burns, but has lain overgrown and underused, has reopened to the public. A launch event marked a culmination of the efforts of local residents to rescue and preserve Loch Wood, near Lesmahagow in South Lanarkshire, following a £240,000 community buyout. The 65-acre woodland – the equivalent of 49 football pitches – had since medieval times been the location of the ancestral home of the Weir family but the house no longer exists. www.myland.scot