Cherished Plan - Story of Pucks Hut at Benmore
Sir Isaac Bayley Balfour memorial building - the cover image taken about 1935.
The image is from the cover of a booklet written by David Gray a member of the Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh (RBGE) team based at Benmore Gardens near Dunoon. This very descriptive booklet uses as its central theme the little memorial hut from its initial inception, subsequent construction and then its relocation to within Benmore gardens. The hut, in its original location up in the forest in Puck’s Glen, was a very familiar walking destination for the hundreds of forestry students who under took the two year training courses based in Benmore House from 1929 through onto 1965.
Around the story, David has skilfully woven a short narrative of the achievements of Sir Isaac Bayley Balfour culminating among other attainments as RBGE Regius Keeper, Professor of Botany, President of the Royal Scottish Arboriculture Society and his role in the locating of a regional RGBE base in western Scotland. This base was initially destined to be located in the Forestry Commission’s then recently acquired Glenbranter Estate (and indeed early RBGE plantings took place there) but events took a turn and Benmore was eventually settled on as the preferred location. The name of Sir John Stirling Maxwell appears in a number of the key meetings and in guiding the process though some critical stages.
There is much information on Sir Robert Lorimer, architect, and the lead up to his design of this rest house in honour of Sir Isaac Bayley Balfour, the fund raising, the choice of site and building construction.
The booklet contains many fine photographic images, some from private collections, and assists the reader follow the process up to 1928 when the rest house was formally opened and thereafter in the late 1960s when it was moved and rebuilt within Benmore Gardens.
The booklet contains 56 pages, reference ISBN 978-1-910877-35-7 and is currently available from RGBE website – current price £8.00.