Timespan is not only a wonderful museum and art centre, it is also an important local meeting place and hub of Helmsdale activity. This combination ensures a lively and sociable atmosphere with a warm welcome extended to everyone.

The River Café

The view from the River Café at Timespan draws people back again and again. Overlooking the community garden tucked under the Telford Bridge and next to the River Helmsdale, there really is no prettier place to while away the time.

Another reason for frequent returns is the opportunity to linger over delicious cream teas, mouthwatering cakes and the best fresh coffee served anywhere in Sutherland.  Light lunches are also available and there is FREE WIFI for your online needs.

Each month the café displays an Artist of the Month, drawn from the local talent within the county.

There is also an excellent collection of second hand books available for sale.    Providing we have notice, the café can and  will happily accommodate groups of visitors to Timespan.   Telephone 01431 821327 and ask for the Centre Manager.

 

The Herb Garden

When Timespan Heritage Centre was conceived, the original building comprised a shop, petrol station and coal yard in disrepair.

It is this coal yard, once a flat wasteland with a rough bank, brick wall and rubble that was transformed by John Hope RIBA, ARAIS into a terraced garden in this fine sheltered spot on the banks of the River Helmsdale.

The makeover took a year with a Manpower Services team of nine local men under the guidance of foreman Graham Cameron.  The team tackled the terracing, paths, stonework, burns and ponds, carting in loads of earth and constructing a peat bank.

Planting began in 1987 under the care of Mary Dudgeon MBE, the first Chairperson of Timespan, whose own garden at Crakaig is famous within the county.   Timespan’s community garden is now an oasis of beauty and calm.  Its exceptional location: nestling next to the Telford Bridge and overlooking the River Helmsdale, is second to none.

Over the years,  herbs from all over Scotland have been introduced into the Timespan garden which now has more varieties than anywhere else in the country.    To this herb collection has been added many more indigenous plants so the garden now has a unique set of Scottish native flora.  The garden is also a rewarding point from which to view birds and wildlife. Otters are frequently seen below the Telford Bridge.

Timespan has developed a Geology Garden with full interpretation, which beautifully complements the existing design and make it easier to understand the natural relationship between the local geology, wildlife and plant life.

A Garden of Herbs book coverA GARDEN OF HERBS by Agnes Walker, a botanist at Kelvingrove Museum, Glasgow, was inspired by the author’s first visit to Timespan.  It is available in the Timespan shop.
(Argyll Press £8.99)

 

 

 

 

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