Why we love Newhailes House & Gardens

Transcript

[4 speakers: Anna Brereton; Nic Craven; Martin Cotter; Emma Burnett]

Anna
My name's Anna. I'm a Visitor Services Manager for the National Trust for Scotland at Newhailes.
A day out at Newhailes is a fantastic day out.
You can visit our amazing cafe in the Stables courtyard. We have a lovely little shop.
You could go on a house tour; we've got several different house tours,so you can explore Newhailes to your heart's content.
There are some lovely woodland walks here. If you take a walk through the pleasure grounds at Newhailes,you will go past an 18th-century shell grotto, a summer tea house -- very classical style, through the archaeological remains of some water gardens. It's a really, really magical place to go for a walk.
I also really love the house. I love the history of the house as well.
We've not made any major interventions into the house. It's almost like the family have just walked out and you've just walked in again.
I love that, over the last three years, Newhailes has become such a community hub. We have done so many events, and it's a really exciting time to be part of Newhailes.

Nic
I'm Nic. I'm the gardener here at Newhailes.
I look after the market garden here and work around the estate, and I love it here.
We try and do nature-friendly garden practices. We use a lot of mulches to boost carbon content in the soil and we just got quite a wide range of flowers for pollinators, along with our vegetables and other plants.
It's just really trying to use the space as a great visitor attraction for everyone. And it's open every day!
I love Newhailes because there's a bit of everything really. You've got nice gardens, nice walks around the estate, a really nice cafe and history tourism. It just feels like a really nice hub and a really nice centre, and it's on Edinburgh's doorstep.

Martin
My name is Martin Cotter. I'm a Visitor Services Assistant here at Newhailes in Musselburgh for the National Trust for Scotland.
Newhailes is a wonderful, unique, atmospheric, 18th-century family mansion, which was left by the family about three decades ago. It's built in the Palladian style and it's just crammed full of wonders and magical little spaces. Visitors never fail to be amazed when we take them around the house.
My favourite thing in the house is probably not actually a physical thing; it's the reaction of the people. When you're taking them around the house, you see them up close having the same kind of reaction that you did when you first came to the house. Sometimes it's a room inside the house; sometimes it's actually just looking at the outside. Other times, it'll be the story of the family, because the family history is absolutely fascinating, for the Dalrymples. And yet on other occasions, it can be just a small item, a small possession that the family have left behind. You never really know what's going to trigger these reactions, but they're magical when you see them.
I love this place because I just love being associated with the place. I think it's a real privilege.
I've done a lot of research into the family and the history of the location and of the house. Actually physically to be here, day in and day out, just working here and seeing some of the wonders that exist inside -- it's just a privilege.

Emma
My name is Emma Burnett and I work as a Visitor Services Assistant at Newhailes House & Gardens.
In the courtyard, we have the cafe -- there's a great cup of coffee waiting for visitors who come hereand a lovely cake -- a huge array of cakes!
We have the shop. The shop is amazing. We've got all sorts of things: presents, gifts for people.
We have the Welcome Hub, which is where you can book tours for the house.
And we have Weehailes, which is a brilliant park aimed for kids from 0 to 12. It's always busy and it's great fun.
I love Newhailes because no day is the same, and it is never a dull day. It's the most beautiful place to work.
I feel at peace when I come here. It just makes me smile, makes me happy. I love it.