Happy Valley (garden)
History
The site, which includes a house, was originally known as "Bankburn". The garden was created from a bare hillside by Edwin Harrold, between October 1948 and the 1990s.[1] Mr Harrold had to give up the garden, as he was too old to maintain it, and he died in 2005.[2] Amongst his aims, was to create a wooded area on Orkney, as trees are highly unusual on the archipelago.
In 2004 the local council, Orkney Islands Council, took ownership of the site from the owner, Professor Isbister. A group was formed in 2007 called "Friends of Happy Valley"; they are a group of volunteers who meet together not only to discuss the future of the gardens, but also to work on maintaining the garden.[3] The Council Special Projects Department assisted by maintaining some of the paths and steps, and in April 2008 volunteers planted 700 new trees to add to the existing woodland.
Footnotes
- "Everything's not so happy in overgrown Stenness valley". The Orcadian. 4 July 2002. Archived from the original on 8 September 2008. Retrieved 2009-08-15.
- "Sadness as Happy Valley creator dies". The Orcadian. 17–23 October 2005. Archived from the original on 6 January 2009. Retrieved 2009-08-15.
- "Friends of Happy Valley group formed". The Orcadian. 5–11 February 2007. Archived from the original on 12 October 2008. Retrieved 2009-08-15.
- "Boggy hillside reborn as Orkney forest reserve". BBC. 27 May 2011. Retrieved 2011-05-27.