Visitors to Castle Kennedy Gardens are in for a surprise this Wednesday!
Primary 6 & 7s from Castle Kennedy Primary School will be found in charge of several of the Garden’s operations in one of the region’s top visitor attractions during a ‘Kids Takeover Day’. Mini managers will adopt senior roles such as Head Gardener, Shop Manager, Tearoom Manager, Nature Trail Developers and Marketing as part of a community engagement programme run by Stair Estates.
The roles are based on real positions held at Castle Kennedy Gardens and children have ‘applied’ for the different positions available, depending on their genuine interest and passions, during a visit by Lady Stair to the school last week.
The Head Gardener will have the opportunity to talk to the Garden’s permanent Head Gardener, John McArthur of that Ilk, receiving invaluable advice from an expert with more than 25 years experience working at Castle Kennedy Gardens. The role will involve them sowing seeds, planting pots and flower beds, edging grass and weeding in the Walled Garden as well as watching a tree being felled. Other pupils will take over the Shop Manager role where they will be responsible for setting up the till and cashing up at the end of the day, welcoming visitors, managing stock items and displaying goods as well as watering plants in the plant centre.
Nature Trail Developers will explore the Gardens identifying and mapping their favourite spots and producing a fun trail which will then be professionally printed and distributed to other young people visiting the Gardens.
Those with a passion for food and drink will take on the role of Tearoom Manager, taking customer orders, preparing food, washing up and keeping the Tearoom tidy with lots of helpful advice from permanent staff member Jane Stanistreet. The children will be also have the opportunity to be involved in Marketing the Gardens creating an advert to promote the day advertising it in the Stranraer Free Press, drafting social media posts and a blog post that will go live on the Garden’s own website as well as writing up reports describing each of the ‘take over’ positions.
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