events

We have curated a weekend-long creative exploration of Perth & Kinross’s historic and contemporary architecture, and wild gardens. The events are free and you are welcome to attend as many as you wish, as long as you pre-book. They include talks, walks (duration 1-2 miles), writing workshops, and foraging for wild foods, offered in four sessions which can be booked individually, or all together – Saturday (morning and/or afternoon), Sunday (morning and/or afternoon).


Saturday 15 October: Perth
morning
Foraging with Rhynie Woman or writing with Ken Cockburn, on Kinnoull Hill. Meet in Corsiehill car park at 10:00 sharp; event ends 12:30. When you book please indicate which event you wish to attend – foraging or writing. Bring wet weather clothing and writing materials (for the writing session). A delicious foraged lunch is available at the AK Bell Library for anyone attending the workshop, for a contribution of £5.

afternoon
A series of talks on folly architecture, wild gardens and urban crofts by Christopher Dingwall, Fergus Purdie, Gill Russell, Fergus Walker and Alec Finlay. 14:00-17:30, AK Bell Lecture Theatre.


Sunday 16 October: Birnam & Dunkeld
morning
Meet at 10:00, Birnam Institute, for a walk and writing workshop with Ken Cockburn, which ends at 12:45. Bring a packed lunch (or there is a café at Birnam Institute), and wet weather clothing. 

afternoon
The afternoon features a guided walk to The Hermitage with Christopher Dingwall, and a reading by Alec Finlay. Meet at The Hermitage car park at 14:00 (the walk from Birnam Institute is 45 minutes). The event will end at 17:00.


These events are free but booking is essential. Please RSVP to info@alecfinlay.com with your name and contact details.

These talks, workshops and conversations will explore themes including: the early Tourists of the 18th century, who came to marvel at the Picturesque and Sublime scenery made fashionable by Macpherson’s Ossian; follies and other dramatic landscape features, such as The Hermitage at Dunkeld; folk traditions relating to shielings and bowers; the ‘heroic’ era of the hydro dams; contemporary community woodlands, and the resurgence in huts, foraging and the ‘new walking’; inspirational figures in the cultural history of Perthshire, including Patrick Geddes and GF Dutton.

 
photography
Rhynie Woman, foraging in Glen Feardar: Hannah Devereux, 2015
Native Beauty, River Tummel: Alec Finlay, 2016