Happy Valley (garden)

Happy Valley is the name of a garden in Stenness, Orkney, Scotland. The area was originally known as "Bankburn".

It was created by Edwin Harrold, between the October 1948 and the 1990s from a bare hillside. Mr Harrold had to give up the garden, as he was too old to maintain it, and he died in 2005 [http://www.orcadian.co.uk/archive/2005/archive44.htm] . Amongst his aims, was to create a wooded area on Orkney, as trees are highly unusual on the archipelago.

In 2004 the local council, Orkney Islands Council, took over the garden. A group was formed in 2007 called "Friends of Happy Valley"; they are a group of volunteers who meet together not only to discuss the future of the gardens, but also to work on maintaining the garden. [http://www.orcadian.co.uk/archive/2007/archive06.htm] The Council Special Projects Department assisted by maintaining some of the paths and steps, and in April 2008 volunteers planted 700 new trees to add to the existing woodland.

External links and references

* [http://bankburn.co.uk/ Happy Valley website]
* [http://www.orcadian.co.uk/archive/2002/happyvalley.htm Everything's not so happy in overgrown Stenness valley]
* [http://www.orkneycommunities.co.uk/imagelibrary/picture.asp?id=1005 Gates of Happy Valley]