Farmer looks for community to take over garden he has established to bring people together in village near Nairn
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A Croy farmer has created a community garden in the heart of the village which he hopes will become a focal point to bring locals and residents of Tornagrain together for years to come.
Donald Harcus (67) is looking to the community to take over the garden which he established through many hours of hard work with the help of a few friends.
He has created is a small paddock near the primary school which has been used in the past for grazing a few sheep but is no longer suitable for that purpose.
Mr Harcus came to Croy as a six-year-old from Aberdeenshire and has lived there since.
"Sadly, I feel the there is less sense of community in the village as it’s expanded over the decades and the loss of the village shop was a blow," he said.
"My idea was to create the garden so people could come together. But I’m not getting any younger.
"It’s been a lot of hard work but I would like to take a step back for younger people to run it and for everyone to enjoy it.
"I see a lot of people going past, looking at it and they don’t seem to realise it’s there for everyone to enjoy, to come in sit down, do a bit of weeding, to meet friends and have a chat over a flask of tea.
"The paddock really is no longer suitable for grazing and I thought it would be a good idea to create a focal point in the village.
"A local business donated a polytunnel where we grow tomatoes and we have a wide variety of vegetables and sunflowers growing in the garden which has really taken off this year."
Mr Harcus has also created a ground-level chess game similar to the one that previously existed at the putting green in Nairn.
And on Thursday evenings at 7pm he has provided a set of boules for games of petanque.
His brother James (69) also built a well in the garden which lies beside the Croy burn.
The well is used to irrigate the plants as there is no mains water supply available.
The garden is organic, it utilises solar energy, and is there for the community to enjoy and to take produce home.
When the growing season ends it is hoped it will continue in the winter months as a meeting place.
Bruce Strachan, chairman of Croy Community Council, said: "Donald has always had the interests of the village at heart. He’s put a power of work into this project and it’s a great thing for the village.
"Hopefully some people will come forward to run the garden. It’s a great idea to bring people together and we are grateful to Donald for his generosity."
If you want to learn more about the project, search for Croy Community Garden on Facebook.
Overgrown plot transformed into flourishing community garden
