Hats off to Tom as new garden opens
An invitation is being extended to everybody to don their red toories and attend the formal opening of Tom and Rhona’s Mountain Garden at Balmaha.
The mountain garden is the latest addition to the Tom Weir’s Rest and Statue site overlooking Balmaha Bay.
It will be formally opened at 2pm on Saturday April 30 by US National Parks ambassador Lee Stetson and Scots Magazine editor Richard Wright.
Everyone is welcome to the free event and to view the garden, named in honour of the loved mountain man Tom and his 94-year-old widow Rhona.
Tom’s popular red toorie hats are expected to be a common sight on the day and will be on sale, with proceeds going to help with the maintenance of the site.
Lee Stetson will also be sharing some short stories on the life and times of national parks pioneer John Muir.
Muir was an inspirational figure for Tom, who was awarded the first John Muir Award in Scotland for inspiring so many people to enjoy Scotland’s great outdoors as a result of his talks, writings and broadcasts over 50 years.
The garden marks the completion of the £130,000 transformation of the former picnic site/
It was leased to the Friends of Loch Lomond and The Trossachs by Stirling Council.
The garden has been designed by Scottish Campaign for National Parks chairman Ross Anderson and developed by Sandy Fraser’s outdoor landscaping team.
It features a range of mountain plants, as well as a selection of stones and rocks collected near the Highland Boundary Fault, which runs through Loch Lomond near Balmaha.
Feature stones include white quartz from Ben Lomond.
There are also slate slabs engraved with quotes about the wonders of Loch Lomond written by Tom 50 years ago, appearing in the Scots Magazine.
The event will also see the unveiling of the fifth and final storyboard at the statue site.
James Fraser, chairman of Friends of Loch Lomond and The Trossachs, said: “This event is an integral part of a visit by Lee Stetson as part of the centenary celebrations of the US National Parks Service.
“It is also a fitting way to mark the completion of work at the Tom Weir’s Rest site, which has become firmly established in a relatively short period of time as one of Loch Lomond’s top visitor attractions, with over 100,000 visitors so far.”
Susan Taylor from the Tom Weir Memorial Group, said: “This is an event that is the culmination of many years of hard work fundraising by lots of volunteers and ordinary Scots and folk from further afield who are passionate about Tom Weir’s contribution to popularising Scotland’s great outdoors.”
Tom Weir’s Rest has become firmly established