Culloden rock star welcome

Volunteers from as far afield as Australia have created a new feature at the entrance of Culloden.

The drystone wall was built by volunteers taking part in a Thistle Camp – one of the Trust’s working holidays – under the stewardship of professional drystone wall maker, Billy McCallum.

The volunteers came from all over the world, some of them trying drystone dyking for the first time, and they were impressed with their efforts.

‘We’ve really enjoyed it’, said Kathryn Scott from Brisbane, Australia, ‘the locals were really happy watching the walls going up all week. A dog-walker even stopped to thank us for building them.’

‘We’ve built it from the foundations up, which is really satisfying’, said Thistle Camp volunteer David Hector from Kent, adding: ‘and the weather has been amazingly good’.

The walls add a traditional touch to the welcome at the historic site and coloured plaques will be fixed in the coming weeks to complete the smarter new look.

As well as from Kent and Australia, the mixed-age group of volunteers also came from Laurencekirk in Aberdeenshire, Moscow in Ayrshire, and Stanstead Abbotts in Hertfordshire.

Thistle Camps are residential working holidays based at Trust properties, offering opportunities to learn new skills such as drystone dyking, or try out new activities like kayaking.