Brodie Castle custodians National Trust for Scotland works with Dyke Primary School on visitor guide

Pupils from a neighbouring school have helped create a tourist guide for a historic local building and its surrounds.

P6/7s from Dyke Primary enjoyed ‘Workforce for the Future’ workshops over seven weeks with Brodie Castle’s custodians, the National Trust for Scotland (NTS), aimed at developing career skills and increasing access to heritage.

Head teacher, Hayley Burns, confirmed the project allowed her pupils to go behind the scenes to learn more about the heritage team.

She said: “Our pupils enjoyed using their creative skills to contribute ideas for illustrations and wording for the visitor leaflet which will be used by other families and children to get a sense of the castle, its history, and the biodiversity around the grounds.

“We hope that we may continue to collaborate on projects in the future."

Brodie’s history inspired the new exploration guide. The class learned about how staff conserve the plants, animals, and nature in their care, as well as special items within the grounds including a sundial and Pictish stone.

They also spent time with the collections team; learning how to take care of the castle’s precious objects, including its antique furniture, valuable paintings, and 6000 historic books.

The new guide was created with local author Ewen Watson and illustrator Sathya Schlosser. The pupils turned what they had learned into written information, which, alongside their own illustrations and artwork that Sathya interpreted, was used for the finished leaflet.

The illustrations will be displayed over the summer in the castle’s Playful Garden café, where the leaflet will also be available for families to pick up.

Having researched and developed the content, the pupils delivered the self-guide leaflet to family members at a celebration on May 26.

The NTS team at Brodie joined up with Museum Galleries Scotland to deliver the Workforce for the Future project, which developed participant’s employability skills, increased their confidence, and helped them learn about careers in the heritage sector.

The project was led by NTS operations manager, Pam Hill.

She said: “It was a fantastic way to get pupils excited about the castle’s history and the work of the trust to maintain this special place in a fun and engaging way.

“The pupils learned about research, development and teamwork. We hope the skills and experience they developed will help them and encourage them to consider a role that supports Scotland’s nature, beauty and heritage.”

Museums Galleries Scotland senior workforce and partnerships manager, John Campbell, was pleased to see how much the project captured the pupils’ imagination.

He finished: “The guide they produced will help to engage more children when they visit.”