When: 1st & 2nd November 2013
Where: Benmore Botanic Garden, Scotland
£: Adults £7 and children (three to 15 years old) £5
What is it?
Regarded by many as the most magnificent entrance to any of the world’s botanic gardens, the iconic Redwood Avenue at Benmore Botanic Garden, on Scotland’s Cowal Peninsula, is arguably the finest of any avenues in Britain. Now it is set to be seen in a new light. In celebration of the 150th anniversary of its planting, the avenue will transform after dark into a spectacular centrepiece on Friday 1st November and Saturday 2nd November.
Giant puppets, an aerialist and live music will bring the garden alive as never before. In the courtyard and gallery there will be short interactive presentations and a specially created display. Illuminations and fire will light up the avenue. There will also be a barbecue to sustain the energy of visitors.
Aerialist Lucy Deacon and creator of giant puppets, Shane Connolly, will help to bring the avenue alive. The full effects will be experienced amidst illuminations created by David Mackinnon. Pupils from Dunoon Primary School will add the finishing touches with decorative lanterns.
Minister for Science Alasdair Allan said: “The Redwood Avenue at Benmore is an incredible sight to behold and will create a wonderfully unique venue for puppetry, aerial performance and celebration for the community and visitors able to attend.
“The aim of our Talking Science funding is to support new ways to get people interested in all aspects of science and demonstrate science’s impact all around us. The story of the plants and trees in Benmore, and the other botanic gardens, not only represent the current staff’s horticultural expertise, but in cases like the Redwoods, reflect the ingenuity of our predecessors and the extraordinary lengths they had to go to in order to create such an attraction.”
The event is further enhanced by a specially created interpretive display by RBGE Head of Interpretation, Alan Bennell. Featuring avenues long and short and tall, the display puts Benmore’s Avenue in context with significant others around Britain and further afield. There will also be short presentations in the Courtyard Gallery by RBGE Science Communicator Max Coleman, and Martin Gardner and Tom Christian, both of the RBGE-based International Conifer Conservation Project.
More info: www.rbge.org.uk