A Celebration of the Land
Join in with a traditional Wassail event, a human symphony and much more, as part of a weekend of FREE family-friendly activities in and around Chatelherault Country Park, Hamilton, Larkhall and Quarter, on Saturday 24 and Sunday 25 February.
The programme - A Celebration of the Land – was co-ordinated by icecream architecture commissioned artists through the Make Your Way project which focuses on connecting communities in Hamilton, Larkhall and Quarter with Chatelherault Country Park.
Each of the eight unique events celebrate the landscape and cultural heritage associated with each place, and include making workshops, traditional music and song, garland making, walks, sculpture and folk tradition.
All events are FREE and all are welcome to attend. Please register interest by emailing
Turn up, dressed for the weather and being outdoors.
Full details of each event can also be found at www.clydeandavonvalley.org/join-in/events.
The events are:
Saturday 24 February
- The Wassail of Larkhall and Quarter – Community Celebration, 11am – 4pm
- 11am – 12:30pm: Wassail Making Workshop, Quarter Bowling Club. Make decorative walking sticks and spring garlands. Learn Wassail songs and dress the apple tree for the walk. Hot drinks provided.
- 12:30 – 2pm: Wassail Walk, Quarter Bowling Club to Larkhall. Resting point on the Green Bridge Trail at Chatelherault, 1:15pm, with hot drinks and apple turnovers. Walk finishes at the Applebank Inn, Millheugh.
- 2 – 4pm: Wassail Toast and Songs, The Applebank Inn. Toast to the apple tree with traditional music, songs and hot apple wassail.
Sunday 25 February
- Arboreal Walk, Duke’s Monument, Barncluith, Chatelherault Country Park, 1 – 5pm, drop-in event
- Explore the local trails and woodland with your own map and collect drawings of what you find. Warm yourself by the fire pit with a hot drink and add to the group sculpture
- Symphony for the Land, Green Bridge, Chatelherault Country Park, 11:30am – 1:30pm
- 1:30am – 12:30pm: Join in with the Making Workshop to create your instrument and totem, and get dressed up in green body decorating with foliage and face paint
- 12:30 – 1:30pm: Human symphony performance event
- Spring Forward Workshop, Walk and Play, car park behind Covan Burn at the top of Old Avon Road, Hamilton, 2-3:30pm
- 2pm – 3pm: Make your own ‘ball of sunlight’, to celebrate spring, using recycled materials
- 3-3:30pm: Use the tradition inspired swinging ball on a walk to Covan Burn to the firepit at Duke’s Monument, Barncluith, Chatelherault Country Park
The artists: Rachel Walker, Owen Clarke, Ruby Pester, Nadia Rossi, and Jenny O’Boyle, have been working with specific groups to understand the history and heritage of different parts of Chatelherault. The groups include Larkhall and District Volunteers, Hamilton Ramblers and pupils from Quarter Primary School. Keep an eye out too for what local artist, Alan Kain, will be doing, inspired by work the Clydesdale Colts - more information coming soon.
Ross Wylie, Make Your Way Project Officer, icecream architecture, says, “These events are a playful range of activities inspired by the unique natural and local heritage of Chatelherault, and by the fantastic enthusiasm of local groups. Come along to any or all of the events over the weekend and experience the pathways into Chatelherault like never before. If you’ve been involved in the Make Your Way project before, or simply want to try something new, there is a lot on offer to inspire and engage in this unmatchable landscape.”
A Celebration of the Land is part of a wider scheme of Make Your Way events and activity taking place as part of the Make Your Way arts, heritage and active travel project. The project is delivered by icecream architecture in collaboration with Healthy n Happy Development Trust. It is supported by Scottish Government supported Smarter Choices Smarter Places fund and Heritage Lottery Fund and South Lanarkshire LEADER supported Clyde and Avon Valley Landscape Partnership (CAVLP).
A series of signage, interpretation and artworks are due to be installed this spring, connecting communities of Hamilton, Larkhall and Quarter with six local access routes into Chatelherault Country Park. A programme of complimentary active travel focussed workshops are taking place in six local primary schools, alongside community focussed guided walks and rides, Walk and Ride Leader Training, bike maintenance days and Family Fun Days, between now and March, as part of the programme.
This second phase follows the first phase of the Make Your Way project which focussed on raising awareness of walking and cycle routes as well as sites of local heritage interest in the five communities of Carluke, Glassford, Lanark, Larkhall and Stonehouse, in 2017. The Make Your Way trails can be accessed digitally here, or paper copies collected from local libraries and Lifestyles Centres. Visitors to each of the locations can enjoy the artworks along the various trails which reflect the heritage of each place, such as blue bricks in Carluke, pattern sliders in Larkhall and historic viewfinders in Lanark.
Full details of A Celebration of the Land and other Make Your Way walking and cycling events can be found on the events page. Click ‘attending’ on the Facebook events here.