Grant Park, Forres

Grant Park owes its existence to the generosity of Sir Alexander Grant, a native of Forres who gifted the land to the town early in the 20th century. Since then, it has been maintained and improved and is a symbol of civic pride and community spirit.

Nelson Tower on Cluny Hill

The park is dominated on one side with the tree covered Cluny Hill with Nelson’s Tower on top. Also on Cluny Hill is the Clunyhill Cemetery where my grandparents are buried. Round the hill are many trails where back in the 1940s, my dad used to run for the Forres Harriers. The cricket pitch has its own natural landscaped pitch with a raised viewing area at the bottom of Cluny Hill. There is also a bowling green, a pavilion and an excellent play area.

Sunken Garden

Grant Park is especially famous for its floral displays, floral sculptures and a sunken garden built on the site of Forres House. Forres has won Scotland & Britain in Bloom main due to the displays in the park and the hanging baskets in the town.

Flower Display

With the park, the Forres Highland Games happen annually, as does the bonfire display. The Pipe Band Championships attract many visitors when held in the park.

St John’s Church

Brechin Path Network

One of my New Year’s resolutions is to take more exercise. For different reasons like the horrendous weather of late , it has been challenging .

Walking is an excellent way to improve your health. It is the most natural and simple way to achieve those goals. It helps with skeletal muscle and joint health. Walking helps circulation reducing blood pressure and reducing the risk of heart disease and helps weight control if done enough. Just getting out in the fresh air and nature lowers stress levels.

Brechin has a path network where you can start with a short walk and build up to longer walks.

Near Castle Garden Centre

There paths all round Brechin and are sign posted by green finger posts with distances given in miles to the destinations . Most of the paths are on good street surfaces , others maybe more muddy in the outskirts of the city.

The routes have different names like the Trinity Circuit in the NE outskirts , Burghill Circuit in the south of the city .