In Review · Queenshill Walk

What a great morning for a walk!

After the heavy rain yesterday, the paths on my Queenshill Countryside Walk were a little muddy in places, but nothing too bad.

There was still some grey cloud cover as I set off from Ringford, but the stiff (and warm) breeze soon blew them away to provide a clear blue sky.

There were great views in all directions;

South to Screel, Bengairn & Criffell, east to the Nith Valley hills, north to the Lauriston Forest and west down the Tarff Valley towards Kirkcudbright Bay.

I would encourage you to see these views now before we have turbine development in the near distance to the northwest (Lairdmannoch Energy Park).

With all the warm and wet weather recently, the vegetation is certainly growing at pace, so long pants are definitely recommended if you are out and about and don’t want to get ‘nettled’!

The trails I chose today were all still clear except for one very short section.

Roe deer napping.

Walking quietly along the trail, I caught a couple of roe deer still napping in the undergrowth and other than a couple of dog walkers near Ringford village, I had the trail to myself this morning.

If you’d like to visit Queenshill woods and appreciate the variety of countryside views from Nielson’s Monument, then why not join me on the next scheduled small group (max. 8 people) walk to the area on Monday, August 4^th 2025.

Japanese Bridge, Threave Garden, near Castle Douglas

In the afternoon, as a member of the Galloway Friends Group of the National Trust of Scotland, I attended the official opening of the new Japanese bridge in Threave Garden, near Castle Douglas; the previous bridge was damaged beyond repair during Storm Eoyn in January 2025.

After the ceremony, group members were treated to a tour of the garden by Head Gardener Michael Lawrie. He talked about several of the long-term projects they have for various areas of the garden.

In the gallery above, we have the:

• New water feature at the Japanese bridge
• New bridge
• Walled garden
• Seating area at new viewpoint
  

And last but by no means least, my coffee with an apricot and white chocolate scone. Just as well I walked here and was walking back home afterwards.

We saw a variety of works underway and were able to visit the new viewpoint seating area behind the Threave House, which is just about to be finished.   

There is still some post-storm clean-up to do, but the team at Threave have done an amazing job since January, and the garden was looking fantastic.

I thoroughly recommend a visit when you are in the area. 

Well, what a fab day; there is always something interesting going on in Galloway!

Useful links:

Threave Garden & Nature Reserve