In the twenty years since Moniack Mhor began operation as Scotland’s flagship creative writing centre, the acre that surrounds its buildings has remained virtually untouched -- a blank canvas. As part of the organisation’s effort to support engagement with nature and landscapes -- and to celebrate the Year of Natural Scotland 2013 -- it has decided to develop this land into an authentic, stimulating community garden. 

This garden would be open to any visitor free of charge out with course times. It would also encourage course participants to engage with the land during their stay at Moniack Mhor. They would have access to the various garden features and the inspirational views overlooking the mountains of Strathfarrar and the table plateau of Ben Wyvis. It would create space for creative collaborations like discussion, workshops, and tutorials, as well as encourage individual activities including writing, reading, listening, and reciting. 

These aims will be achieved by planting a Gaelic tree alphabet, building a story telling circle comprised of a ring of sunken stones and a campfire pit, adding tree groves, benches and quiet areas, improving wheelchair access, and many more elements which are detailed on the Moniack Mhor website. 

The garden would be sustainable, accessible and attractive. A fruit and vegetable patch would provide home grown food for residential course participants to use in evening meals. Improved wheelchair access would open up more areas of land. The story telling circle and camp fire would give young people a place to stretch their imaginations amidst the mystifying Highland landscape. It would also provide space for individual writing time in the form of benches, tables and shady alcoves.

Volunteers and outside funds are essential to bringing this community garden to life. If you are interested in contributing your time and skills to the project, please contact Moniack Mhor by email or by phoning the Centre at 01463 741 675. To say thank you for their efforts, the organisation hopes to run free workshops that would be open to all volunteers throughout the duration of the project. They are likely to include the following:

• Building with natural resources
• Planting in exposed locations
• Introduction to local plant varieties
• Planting pond species
• The literary garden ( Rousseau, Shakespeare)
• A children’s garden of verse ( Burns, Stevenson)
• The wildlife garden
• Other Poetry/Prose workshops

If volunteering is not an option, please consider donating to the garden fund. Help Moniack Mhor provide thousands of people with a space to connect with the culture and landscape of the Scottish Highlands. Any donation – no matter the size – is gratefully appreciated!

£5 buys Japanese anemonies, lupins, or other bulbs for perennial garden bed

£10 buys four blackcurrant plants for the soft fruit bed

£50 buys timber for benches

£100 buys 20 dwarf rhododendrons for the rockery

£250 buys framing materials for the polytunnel

£500 buys locally sourced stone for the Caithness Round Table

Thank you so much for visiting Moniack Mhor's community garden fundraising page.