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Educational Visits
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The Scottish Borders
Bowhill House & Gardens
The Buccleuch Collection
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Bowhill House Gardens
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The Adventure Playground
Soft Play
Love & Respect Victorian Age Exhibition
The Victorian Kitchen
Our Sister Estates
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Contact
Earlier this year, as a part of our usual end of term school visits, we were visited by the Heritage Education Trust to be assessed for the Sandford Award. The Heritage Education Trust seeks to enable young people to learn about cultural heritage, through engagement with historic sites and the Sandford Award is grounded in good practice. Bowhill House and Grounds has consistently earned the Award over many years, so for my first time being involved in the assessment I was quite daunted by the prospect of being judged. As you may imagine, there was some planning involved to ensure we delivered something relevant, educational and exciting.
School Visits
As with all of our school visits, the year group were split into groups on rotation, with one group taking on an activity in the house and the other group joining me for an outdoor activity, before they all headed to the playpark to finish off their visit. Sarah the Visitor Operations Co-ordinator took lead on the house activity and was supported by Craig our Archivist, where the pupils looked at a small part of the collection and accounts from the mid-19th Century, allowing them to compare and contrast with modern technological methods of shopping. The pupils finished off with writing their own shopping list using traditional style ink pens, an exercise they found utterly absorbing.
Hands-On with Pupils
For my session, I put the pupils to work! After a short walk to the Walled Garden where we discussed features of the designed landscape, the pupils were tasked with recreating the Upper Loch and Terraces. After an introduction to tool use (many had never done anything like this before), I set the children off building a two-tiered terrace using a mix of man made and natural stone. Following this the pupils dug a mini loch, before barrowing the soil to dress off the terraces. Our walk back involved some very interesting conversations around how they could recreate their own romantic landscape at home, including quiet places to sit and read or the addition of ponds and features.
Bowhill Wins Sandford Award
Following the visit and after assessment by a panel of judges, we were informed in September that we had successfully achieved the Sandford Award and Sarah has just returned from the award ceremony at Kensington Palace. Bowhill House and Grounds is the second longest holder of the Sandford Award, narrowly missing out to The Roman Baths in Bath by one year.
It is encouraging to know that the work the Visitor Services team puts into Heritage Education for the Buccleuch Living Heritage Trust, is of the highest standard and provides the best possible opportunities for local school children to connect to local heritage.
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