Lanark park pond will go ahead without Beechgrove

But the programme would like to feature the finished project.

Lanark Community Development Trust is working with the council and other bodies to restore Castlebank Park.

Work is already well underway on a horticultural centre and the terraced gardens are being restored and planting carried out.

But the Trust contacted Beechgrove Garden for support in an ambitious project to restore an old, filled-in pond, turning it into a Japanese water garden.

It was shortlisted by the Beechgrove team, who visited last month to see the park and meet the volunteers.

But this week the Trust learned that it had been unsuccessful in its bid for help – however, the rejection was tempered with fulsome praise.

“We were all hugely impressed with all that you do and have done already in Lanark,” said producer Gwyneth Hardy. “Compared to other communities that we met, you are so very far ahead and self-sufficient.”

For more on this story, pick up a copy of the Carluke and Lanark Gazette.