Near the head of Glen Esk at Tarfside is
The Retreat . It houses the Glenesk Folk Museum, a gift shop, a restaurant/tea room, a communtity room and an exhibition area. They've spent a few bob over the last wee while, around £800,000 I believe. The community purchased the buildings in 2004.
The Retreat was the brainchild of Greta Michie and was originally set up in 1955. A local school teacher, Greta was inspired by visiting Scandanavian Folk Museums, principally in Norway. The idea was to give employment to local women and children in the glen through the sale of local produce and crafts. Back in the good ol' days, it was still possible to sell stuff like local honey, jam, butter, eggs and home baking. Unfortunately, those who claim to KNOW BETTER have consigned these delights to the past. Health and F****** Saftety and all that.
That aside, as I was driving down the glen, I was struck by the fine willow sculpture of a stag
outside the Retreat. A little bit of Googling and I discovered that the sculptor was
Trevor Leat and that he created this last summer for the Retreat. He also does work for the Wickerman Festival and the Edinburgh Hogmanay celebrations. Lots of his stuff gets burnt. Not by outraged punters I hasten to add, but on purpose. You can see some burnings on the link below. There's also some interesting stuff about him and his collaborator at
http://www.leatrigg.com/.
