Welcome to Sand

Aerial photography by John Coutts

 

Welcome to Da Gairdins i Sand. This is an area in Sand, on the Westside of the Shetland Isles, which is being transformed from grazing and hill land into an area of extensive gardens and woodlands.

Over the other pages we will endeavour to give you an insight into what we are trying to achieve here, how to get here, a brief overview of the gardens and woodlands and links to other sites which give us inspiration.

We hope that you will enjoy your journey with us through the development of what will eventually be an area of recreation and education, of creative work and play and of peace and inspiration.

This is Da Gairdins…our Island of Dreams.

The first shelterbelts in Sand were planted in 1991, and are now about 20feet/6metres high.  
Altogether, well over 25,000 trees and shrubs have been planted in the woodlands and gardens.
The gardens were started in 1997 with the creation of the first pond.

Obituary

One of the founders of the Gairdins project has died.
1st December 2009 Alan Inkster died in The Gilbert Bain Hospital, Lerwick, Shetland.
His friend Maurice Mullay wrote this orbituary, whis was printed in The Shetland Times 11th December.
Click here to read the obituary.

What's in a name?

ger¶i…Old Norse, meaning a fenced patch of ground (Jacobsen). This is the origin of the name “Da Gairdins”, and also of the English word “garden” – for what is a garden but an enclosed piece of ground?
Da Gairdins i Sand is the old name for an area of croft land at Sand, on the Westside of Shetland. Ruby Inkster inherited the tenancy of three crofts previously tenanted by her forebears, and Alan Inkster purchased another croft to join all the land together. Subsequently, Ruby’s three crofts were purchased with the goodwill and generosity of the late Peter Hick who was the landlord at the Haa of Sand.

Read or download the full history here