We’re really excited to announce these great events for the gathering this year. To help with planning, we’d really appreciate it if you could complete the form at the bottom of this page to let us know more details about you and your preference for Saturday’s trips and whether you will attend the buildings tour on Friday.

Please complete the form once for each person attending.

Program

Friday
09:00Buildings Tour (see section below)
16:30Registration opens @ Wiston Lodge Main House
18:00Dinner
19:00Welcome to the area – a talk by Ian Edwards
19:30Icebreaker / Housekeeping
20:30Soap Box – Bring your ideas or thoughts in a 5 minute talk. Maybe bring ideas for a Sunday workshop session
21:00Social time
Saturday
08:00Breakfast for weekend ticket holders
09:00Registration
10:00Welcome & Organisation
10:15Talk – Chris Parkin and Anne Armstrong from Clyde Valley Orchard Co-operative talk about apple growing and orchards in the area, past to present, with some produce to buy!
11:00Pick up packed lunch & Visits instructions
12:00Site Visits (see below). Return by 17:00
17:00Tea & Coffee
17:30Talk: Peter Livingstone and Jo Greenless from Ayrshire-based Eadha Enterprises will tell us about their work in the area, where they have several research trials and planting schemes aiming to restore former opencast mines.
18:15Talk: Paul & Jo from Green Aspirations and Angela Newton talk about converting an historical plantation and mixed woodland into a productive hazel coppice.
19:00Dinner
EveningCeilidh & raffle (BYOB)
Sunday
08:00Breakfast in the hall
09:30RS project updates & AGM
10:15Tea & Coffee
10:30Workshops (see below)
12:00Feedback from visits and workshops
13:00Lunch
14:30Depart. Optional post-gathering visits if you have time.

Buildings Tour (Friday, pre-gathering)

The buildings tour is a chance to visit buildings and sites of interest, for example in terms of sustainability, wooden construction or community involvement. This year the tour will start from the north, in Blainslee, Galasheels and will wind is way towards Wiston Lodge. You can join onto the tour at any point using the (approximate) timings below.

Click below for more info.

The organiser for the building tour is Peter Caunt. A separate email for the buildings tour will follow for those that sign up to it on the form below.

  • 09:00 Tim Stead’s Steading, Blainslee. Dep 10:00
  • 11:00 Passivhaus building, Langstrath. Dep 12:30
  • 12:35 Hut Site inspired by Jessica Windsor. Dep: 14:45 to Wiston Lodge.

Saturday Trips & Workshops

We have a selection of great trips and workshops to choose from. You will just go on one. Each trip is for max 5 hours (including travel). Have a read through each one and then pick your preferred choice in the form below. We’ll do our best to make sure everyone gets their preference and have lists to remind you which you chose at the Gathering! There are no extra costs for any of the trips with the exception of the Dawyck Botanical Gardens. We will organise car sharing on Saturday morning.

Click on each for further info…

The Wildwood project seeks to re-create a valley of wooded wilderness in the Southern Uplands with most of the rich diversity of native species that existed there thousands of years ago before human activities became dominant. The 1620 acre valley in the Moffat Hills was bought in 2000 through the hard work of a dedicated team of volunteers and the help of many generous supporters and over 750,000 trees have been planted since.

We hope to explore the site as well as heading higher up the glen to see the montane areas.

Accessibility: Some paths and off-path walking on rough ground. Some steeper terrain for those wishing to visit montane areas.

Travel: We’ll car share for the trip. 45 mins drive.

Further info: Borders Forest Trust – Carifran

We will look around the site and discuss our work over the past nine winters to establish a coppice rotation in an area of hazel originally planted around the millenium. The various methods of browsing control we have tried can be seen. There will be a cutting demonstration, and the opportunity to have a go. Tools will be supplied but bring work gloves if you need them. Google’s map is inaccurate, the car park is further up the road (see map). 

Address: Blantyre Farm Road, Glasgow G72 9UN; What Three Words: boss.shovels.pots

Accessibility: The site is accessed over rough ground so wear strong boots. There are no toilet facilities.

Travel: 40 mins drive from Wiston. There is parking for about a dozen cars but this is a public park (historic anti-aircraft battery site), so car sharing is advisable.

This trio of woodlands promise a great afternoon among some lovely woods. Catwalk Den, West Linton is one of the smallest Woodland Trust sites and is predominantly broadleaf interspersed with some fine mature specimen conifers. The woodland ground flora is rich and diverse and includes locally rare species. This leads to –

Roamers Wood, a new community woodland, includes “Robert’s Orchard” planted in memory of Robert Chalmers, a Reforesting Scotland member. Lunch on picnic benches around a barbeque site.

A short drive to Leadburn Community Woodland, an old Forestry Commission site which is being replanted with native species, and self-seeded coniferous trees are sold at Christmas.

Accessibility: Generally on paths, flat railway track beds, with some boardwalks across boggy sections. There will be a toilet stop opportunity after Roamers Wood.

Travel: 30 mins drive. Car sharing required to reduce vehicle numbers.

Further Info: Catwalk Den Woodland | Roamers Wood | Leadburn Community Woodland

We are delighted to be hosted by Sandra and Peter of the Clyde Valley Orchards Cooperative (CVOC) Clyde Valley Orchards Cooperative | Carluke | Hazelbank | Lanark and environs for a tour of two of the orchards in the cooperative. Following the CVOC morning talk at the Gathering, we will head out to a nearby orchard at Carluke and return via another orchard at Kirkfieldbank. The itinerary is relaxed, with tours focussed on past and present management, future planning,  pruning, produce and successes and failures in the orchard all covered. A straight-off-the-tree apple tasting session will end the visit and with luck a juice sampling (if there has been enough for a pressing!). We welcome requests for specific topics to be covered in advance. 

Accessibility: Off-path terrain through orchards. Short walks.

Travel: Parking is very limited, so car-sharing from Wiston is essential and numbers strictly limited. Travel arrangements and car-sharing on the day.

Led by Ian Edwards, we’ll explore the grounds and area around Wiston Lodge, with some foraging, plant identification and looking at some local ecological features issues. There will be options to extend the walk to the nearby Tinto Hill which has very interesting flora (though we’ll probably not go to the top!)

Accessibility: Woodland paths, good footwear and waterproofs needed.

Travel: None needed.

A full afternoon visiting several opencast mine restoration and woodland establishment sites in the company of Peter Livingstone of Eadha Enterprises.

Accessibility: Some rough terrain walking

Travel: Car sharing will be needed

Leadloch is a 155-hectare site owned and managed by Future Forest Woodlands, and features degraded peatland, improved grassland, fenland, and conifer shelter belts. Alongside ongoing woodland creation and peatland restoration initiatives, we have ambitious nature restoration goals for the future. These will inclued a extensive wetland and pond project. We’ll be led by site ecologist Lindsay around the site. Read more on the site here.

Accessibility: Off-path terrain, with reasonable walking distances. Bring good boots / wellies.

Travel: Car sharing. 1hr 10 min drive.

Please note this trip has a surcharge of £8 (concessions £7, RBG members free) to cover the entry fee. Includes guided tour.

Located in the hills of the Scottish Borders, 65-acre Dawyck enjoys an almost continental climate comprising warm dry summers followed by cold, snowy winters.  Plants from the mountainous regions of Europe, China, Nepal, Japan and North America thrive here.  Garden features include:

  • Heritage Trees:  Dawyck has one of Scotland’s finest tree collections including some of Britain’s oldest and tallest trees, dating back to 1680.  Look out for Douglas fir, European Silver fir and Giant Sierra redwoods.
  • Heron Wood Reserve: The Cryptogamic Sanctuary is the world’s first reserve for mosses, liverworts, lichens and fungi.

Accessibility: Good paths and easy access.

Travel: 30 minute drive from Wiston (car sharing).

Saturday Evening Ceilidh

We’ll have a ceilidh on Saturday evening so bring your dancing shoes!

Sunday Workshops

On Sunday we will have a selection of discussion and practical workshops to choose from. If you would like to lead a workshop then you can either let us know in the registration form below, or just suggest it at the Soapbox session on Friday night. Workshops so far include:

  • Tree seed collection & treatment
  • Meadow and woodland ground flora establishment & management
  • Coppice Products practical demonstrations
  • Orchards / fruit tree management & pruning
  • Biosecurity in woodlands
  • Showing of the film “Why Not Scotland” & discussion

Signup forms will be around at the Gathering – no need to pre-book these workshops.

Baking, books, booze & raffle…

We’ll be having plenty of tea breaks over the weekend and if you’d like to bake something or bring along some goodies to share, they will be very welcome.

On Saturday evening we will have a raffle, as well as swaps and sales tables for books and seeds. If you are able to bring something for these to swap or donate, please do.

Please bring your own booze for Friday and Saturday evening. There is no bar at the venue and the nearest shop is 15 minutes away.

Food & Dietary Requirements

Lunch and evening meals will be catered by Wiston Lodge and will be vegetarian food. For those staying the weekend we’ll serve a simple breakfast at the hall on Saturday and Sunday. We’ll be asking for volunteers throughout the weekend to help with serving, clearing and tea breaks. Please let us know any dietary requirements if you haven’t already done so.

Accommodation Check In

If you have booked accommodation then it will be at Wiston Lodge and we’ll direct you to the right place at registration.

Getting to the Gathering

The gathering will be held at the Wiston Lodge.

Public transport:

We’ll send out directions in an email to all attendees a few days before the gathering.

Registration Form

Please return to this page and complete the form for each person attending.

About You

In case we need to get hold of you over the weekend
Please indicate any requirements / allergies so we can let our caterers know
Can you offer a lift to others, or do you need a lift? Please say where from and number of spaces and we will try to link people up.

Trips and Activities

Do you need a lift for the buildings tour, or can you offer a lift to someone else? If so, how many spaces?
Carrifran - Borders Forest TrustRedlees Coppice RestorationCatwalk Den, Roamers Wood & Leadburn Community WoodlandClyde Valley Orchards TourForaging & Local Ecology WalkEadha Entreprises restoration sitesLeadloch - Future Forest WoodlandsDawyck Botanical Gardens (£8 entry)
1st Choice
Backup Choice
We will do our best to make sure everyone gets their preference however some trips have limited numbers.
E.g. for couples, friends etc. Pleas enter their name(s) here.
Can you offer space in your car for trips? How many? Or do you need a lift? Please let us know here...
Feel free to suggest a practical or discussion workshop for Sunday here.
Let us know if you can bring anything.
Please let us know anything else we may need to know about your booking.