Outdoors

SCONE Palace has unveiled plans to open all year round and turn its stables into a visitors’ centre, restaurant, and shop. Other proposals include an adventure playpark, a multi-purpose pavilion, and new greenhouses and refurbished potting sheds for its walled garden. The palace also plans to generate power from solar panels and a biomass plant.…

COMEDIAN Jim Smith is backing this winter’s “Keep Talking” campaign for farmers and crofters. Organised by the Royal Scottish Agricultural Benevolent Institution (RSABI), the camaign encourages people to get together over the darker months. “We can all get a bit down at this time of year and this is a fantastic initiative by RSABI to…

COULD old wind turbine blades be turned into bus shelters and park benches? That’s the question at the heart of a project that’s secured a £50,000 grant from Innovate UK, the UK Government agency that used to be called the Technology Strategy Board. ReBlade, a Glasgow-based company set up last year to specialise in decommissioning…

THE National Trust for Scotland (NTS) has launched an appeal to replace trees lost in storms Arwen and Corrie. The charity wants to plant 500,000 trees to replace those lost during storms last November and January. Its tree appeal will focus on replacing lost trees in Argyll, the Highlands, and the North-East. Properties affected by…

THE Langholm Initiative has hailed a “moment of history and hope” after completing its £2.2 million purchase of 5,300 acres in Dumfries & Galloway from landowner Buccleuch. The deal has doubled the size of the Tarras Valley nature reserve to 10,500 acres and fulfils the charity’s original £6m goal. The community raised £3.8m last year…