RHET ACI was one of the first CIsto start delivering Estate Days back in 2007 and it is a format that we have found really popular, not only with our schools but also with our  volunteers.  When these events started, Lord Lyell was very supportive of what RHET delivers and happily opened his Estate, near Kirriemuir, for ACI to bring 180 children along for a day learning about life on an Estate. 

Due to the popularity of the event, it expanded from a 1-day event for Angus schools to a two day event, with a day for Dundee schools added.  Since Lord Lyell’s death in 2017 his Cousin Antony Gifford took over running the Estate and has been even more supportive.  Antony not only allows us to carry on the event but he, his mother Mary, his wife Joe and even his son James volunteer on the day, helping the other RHET ACI volunteers steward the groups of children around the sets.  The Estate Gamekeeper Barry and Forester James are also involved with delivering sets and Estate staff help our Project Co-ordinator with setting up beforehand and tidying up afterwards, as well as taking delivery of porta-loos and marquees.

ACI has always had outside funding for this event from various sources over the years, but often with a focus on deprivation, which has meant we often had children out to the Estate who at 10 years old have had no experiences beyond life in Dundee.  Our volunteers have even been asked questions like “Is this real?”  When funding restrictions don’t guide which Dundee schools are invited, we try and invite on rotation, so everyone gets a shot and similarly with Angus schools we invite each of the school cluster groups on rotation to our events, so we work with all schools at least once every 4 years.

We work with a number of other partners on the event, with sets having been delivered by ex-Forestry Commission forester John Spittal, Angus Council’s Arboricultural Officer Fred Connacher, Angus Ranger Services helping with pond dipping activities and East of Scotland Bee Keepers Association involved.  Along with our RHET ACI volunteers and the input from Kinnordy Estate it is a real team event!

Pupils attending the events experience pond dipping in the lily ponds of Kinnordy Loch, learn about Barry’s job as a Gamekeeper, meeting his ferrets and watching his dog working.  James has various equipment set out and explains his job as a forester, while at the same set the local Beekeepers’ Association talk to the children about honeybees and they see close up how they live through their glass topped hive.  Fred and John cover how trees grow, how they have lived through history and look as woodland habitat and RHET volunteers man the farming set, with our Countryside Classroom on Wheels, often supplemented with real time activities that happen to be going on in nearby fields such as potato planting.

Part of the magic of the Estate Day is that all this is in the beautiful surrounding of the Estate and part of the day’s experience is walking around in such lovely surroundings and sitting out on the lawn with all the amazing mature trees around them while they eat their lunch!