Tom Weir’s Rest at Balmaha Bay was turned into a sea of red this weekend for the opening of a new mountain garden in honour of Scotland’s most-loved mountain man and his widow Rhona.
The garden, beside the statue of the iconic climber, naturalist, writer and broadcaster at scenic Balmaha Bay, was officially opened on Saturday by US National Park’s Service centennial celebrations ambassador and John Muir lookalike, Lee Stetson, alongside The Scots Magazine editor, Robert Wight, many of the audience wearing Tom’s signature red toorie hats.
Rhona Weir, at the age of 96, was also able to join the gathering to witness the latest addition to the £130,000 transformation of Tom Weir’s Rest site, which has been developed by two charity organisations – the Friends of Loch Lomond and The Trossachs and the Tom Weir Memorial Group – following an extensive fundraising campaign.
The garden, designed by Scottish Campaign for National Parks chairman, Ross Anderson and laid out by local businessman Sandy Fraser’s landscaping team, features a typical range of mountain plants including juniper, wild thyme, fern and 1,200 heathers of different varieties and colours to reflect the four seasons on Scotland’s mountains.
Lee Stetson, who is in Scotland and is walking the John Muir Way as part of the centenary celebration of the US National Parks Service, said: “It is a pleasure to be asked to be involved in today’s events, which mark the completion of a remarkable project in honour of an outstanding man.
“Tom was born only a few days after the death of the great John Muir and there is a clear sense that Tom’s work in Scotland was a continuation of the legacy that Muir left in the United States, something which I know was fittingly recognised with his receipt of the inaugural John Muir Lifetime Achievement Award.
“The large turnout of people at Balmaha today shows the high regard that Tom was held in during his long life, and that Rhona is still held in now.
“I will certainly return to the USA with fond memories of today’s gathering and with a greater impression of how Tom worked so hard to protect and promote Scotland’s great outdoors for everyone to enjoy.”
Rhona Weir, added: “The statue is already a very special memorial to Tom but the addition of the Mountain Garden in both our names is a great honour and captures our great love of Scottish mountains.
“I know Tom would have been delighted to see the result of all the hard work that has been put in by so many people to make this possible.
“I have been thrilled by how popular the statue has been since it was unveiled, and now with the presence of the Mountain Garden, it is an even better place for people to come and enjoy an idyllic part of Scotland which was has been such a great favourite of Tom’s and mine’’
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