Fed-up laird erects a No Dumping, No Humping sign after people abuse Black Isle beauty spot
A NORTH laird and his wife are using humour in a two-pronged attack on people who have been abusing scenic woods on the Black Isle.
Passing motorists have been using a layby on the rural route to Cotterton between the communities of Tore and Munlochy as a fly-tipping site – and as a peaceful location to enjoy a kiss and a cuddle in their car.
Alex Rutherford and his wife Georgie of Allangrange Estate got so fed up with the unsavoury debris left by the illegal dumpers and courting couples that they put up a large black notice board with a message in bold white letters telling the unwelcome visitors to go off elsewhere. And the direct action appears to be working with fewer people littering the site.
The big sign that has been fixed to a birch tree in the woodland area is direct and to the point. It reads: “NO DUMPING OR HUMPING. Dumpers: Go to the tip. Humpers: Get a room”.
Mr Rutherford is a pub chain boss who bought Allangrange from the Cameron family about 10 years ago.
He said: “We became more and more annoyed about the mess that was being left beside the woods in the layby on a road often used by local people walking with their dogs.
“We passed it regularly and it was quite disgusting at times. The sign was my wife’s idea, just a bit of humour.
“It seems to have worked because there is not nearly as much rubbish left there as before. Perhaps using humour does work.”
The sign even made it onto social media, with one woman leaving a tongue-in-cheek comment on the Twitter networking site that said: “Stay classy, Tore.”
In 2012 Mr Rutherford who co-founded the Mint Group which operates a pub chain in London, bought his own local, the Munlochy Hotel,and reinvented it as a popular gourmet pub renamed the Allangrange Arms.
The Mint Group also own and manage several bars in London, including KOKO in Camden, Elk in Fulham and Bison and Bird in Clapham.
