Garden Awards
Templeton Woods was the site for the presentation of the 2011-12 Green Flags as it was receiving its first Green Flasg. Michael Laird and three of the Friends were delighted to be there to receive the Garden's fifth Green Flag. Representatives from Trottick Ponds, Baxter Park and the Council's Environment Department were also present.
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VISIT SCOTLAND GARDEN AWARDS
VisitScotland under the Scottish Tourist Board brand, administers the 5-star grading schemes which assess the quality standards of all types of tourist accommodation and visitor attractions from castles to gardens. Schemes are monitored all year round – each establishment is reviewed once a year.How does the system work? Advisors visit and assess establishments on up to 50 areas from quality, comfort and cleanliness to welcome, ambience and service. If an establishment scores less than 60% it will not be graded.
Graded visitor attractions. Visitor attractions from castles and museums to gardens are graded with 1 to 5 stars depending on their level of customers care. The focus is on the standard of hospitality and service as well as presentation, quality of shop or café (if there is one) and toilet facilities.
The promise of the stars:
* it is clean, tidy and an acceptable if basic , standard.
* * it is a good, all-round standard.
* * * it is a very good standard, with attention to detail in every area
* * * * it is excellent – using high quality materials, good food (except self catering) and friendly, professional service.
* * * * * an exceptional standard where presentation, ambience, food (except self catering) and service is hard to fault.
The Barnhill Rock Garden achieved a * * * * award in 2008.
www.visitscotland.comGreen Tourism Business Award
The Barnhill Rock Garden has been awarded a Green Tourism Business Award at Silver Level and presentation of the Award was made at the Garden on Monday 6th June.The Garden had been awaiting grading for 12 months during which time various actions were taken to meet the criteria for this award. The GTBS is the national sustainable tourism certification scheme for the UK. Originally developed in partnership with Visit Scotland, it has been running since 1997 and it is now the only certification scheme validated by Visit Britain, through the International Centre for Responsible Tourism (ICRT).
Green Tourism is assessed by a qualified grading advisor against a rigorous set of criteria, covering a range of areas, such as energy and water efficiency, waste management, biodiversity and more. The current network of members is comprised of a wide range of business types, including accommodation providers, visitor attractions, corporate offices and others.
More information is available on the GTBS website at www.green-business.co.uk
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Beautiful Scotland
Beautiful Scotland is an environmental campaign in Scotland for communities who are working to improve and enhance their local area. The main campaign has been running for over 40 years and until recently was known as "Beautiful Scotland in Bloom".
Neighbourhood Awards
The Neighbourhood Awards are a relatively new initiative in Scotland. They are designed for groups who are beginners to making local environmental improvements in their area, particularly (but not exclusively) in urban areas.
The scheme is non-competitive; it aims instead to give recognition and support to groups by means of a one hour visit from an assessor during the month of August.
The assessor will give the group some guidance as to how they might proceed, and all entrants are awarded a certificate at an annual seminar in November. There are three levels of certificate – Improvement, Merit and Outstanding Achievement.
In 2008, 45 communities across Scotland took part in the Neighbourhood Awards and the Barnhill Rock Garden was one of three to receive the Certificate of Outstanding Achievement.
The first stage of the Scree Bed renovation project won another Outstanding Achievement Award in 2009
www.keepscotlandbeautiful.org.uk
In 2010 this scheme changed to “It’s your Neighbourhood” with the following aims:
Neighbourhood campaign is an ideal opportunity for volunteer-led community groups which are interested in cleaning up and greening up their local area, whether that is the street where they live, a derelict space on their estate or the grounds around the local community centre.
It is an inclusive non-competitive scheme which is about bringing members of the community together to make a positive change to the place they live, work or spend their leisure time.
Entrant groups will be visited by a trained Assessor who will look at the work that has been done under three main themes: Community Participation, Environmental Responsibility and Gardening Achievement.
Forty percent of the overall marks are awarded for Community Participation, with the others receiving 30% each.
The Assessor will also give advice and information to support the group’s efforts and award points and a certificate to reflect its’ achievements.
There are 5 levels of certificate, namely:
In 2010 the Friends of the Barnhill Rock Garden were awarded a Certificate at Level 4 – Thriving for their work on the Scree Bed II and other parts of the garden. They were also nominated for a Certificate of Distinction in the Britain in Bloom national “RHS It’s Your Neighbourhood” scheme - one of only a few groups in Birtain to receive this award and the only one in Scotland - for their improvement year-on-year while taking part in this scheme. The certificate was presented to the Chairman and Vice Chairman of the Friends at the RHS Britain in Bloom awards ceremony at the Centennial Centre in Birmingham on 29th September.
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The Green Flag Award Scheme.
The Green Flag Award scheme was launched in 1996 and gave its first awards in England and Wales in1997. Thirteen years later, the programme continues to provide the benchmark against which our parks and green spaces are measured. For the 2009/2010 round of judging, the scheme continues to go from strength to strength, with a record number of parks and green spaces receiving the accolade.
The award recognises well managed and high-quality green spaces and is valid for one year. To be eligible sites must be freely accessible to the public and perform well against the following eight criteria:
The scheme was trialled for the first time in Scotland in 2007 by Edinburgh and Dundee and the Barnhill Rock Garden won its first award. In 2008 Trottick Ponds and the Rock Garden obtained the award and in 2009 they were joined by Baxter Park. Perth also took part in 2009.
