Work to start on Glenlude's gathering shelter

Thanks to funding from our Members and supporters, work is set to begin on a traditionally-built timber-framed gathering shelter to help people engage with wild places at Glenlude.

A former commercial conifer plantation near Peebles in the Scottish Borders, Glenlude has been owned and managed by the John Muir Trust for over 20 years. Over the past decade, we have been transforming the site into a mosaic of native woodland, peatland and upland habitats through natural regeneration, tree planting and habitat restoration

Today Glenlude serves as both a restoration landscape and a living outdoor classroom, welcoming volunteers, schools, community groups and conservation partners. And it is creating a self-sustaining woodland for future generations, with trees grown from locally collected seeds now producing seeds themselves.

The site was nationally recognised through our award-winning partnership with Phoenix Futures, where practical conservation supports recovery from drug and alcohol addiction.

Now, thanks to the generosity of the Trust's Members and supporters who donated to our Glenlude Appeal, the next phase will make Glenlude accessible to even more people - while remaining true to the landscape and the Trust's conservation ethos.

Gathering shelter

Alongside ongoing habitat restoration, we will soon start constructing a new accessible Gathering Shelter that will enable many more volunteers, schools and community groups to experience and care for this special wild place.

The Gathering Shelter will be far more than just a building. Designed to sit lightly within the landscape, it will become a welcoming base for volunteers, schools, families and community groups, providing shelter, learning space as well as a place to gather before heading into the surrounding wild landscape.

Every aspect of the shelter has been designed to respect the wild landscape and reflect the Trust's philosophy of keeping places feeling wild.

It will be constructed using 70-year-old locally sourced Scottish larch, with craftsmen using traditional timber framing and minimal ground intervention wherever possible. Construction will use mill-rule framing techniques, with oak pegs instead of steel fixings.

The shelter will provide an accessible base for conservation volunteers and outdoor learning, and will improve opportunities for schools and community groups to enjoy Glenlude.

It will also improve accessibility for wheelchair users and others with mobility needs, enbling more people to participate in volunteering and outdoor learning, while also creating a safe space for younger people experiencing and volunteering in the outdoors.

Fantastic asset

The shelter will also provide a fantastic asset to support future events, training, and community engagement on the site.

Gareth Morgan, Head of Engagement, at the John Muir Trust, said: “We have identified an excellent local contractor who is a real craftsperson and we are looking forward to getting started as soon as possible. It will be a really interesting building, built using traditional methods and designed to last for generations.”

Karen Purvis, Glenlude Manager, said: “We are thrilled to have received so much support for the building of our new gathering shelter at Glenlude.

“Blending seamlessly into the landscape, this open-air, timber-framed classroom will provide protection from the elements, offer space for community groups to come together and act as a gateway to learning about and exploring this unique wild place.

“Alongside our plans to upgrade paths and build new accessible raised beds within the adjoining tree nursery, the gathering shelter will help make Glenlude accessible to more people, welcoming volunteers, school children and community groups to experience how natural processes are regenerating this landscape.”

Award-winning partnership

For the past 14 years, the John Muir Trust has hosted Phoenix Futures’ Recovery Through Nature programme at Glenlude. Hundreds of people recovering from drug and alcohol addiction have planted over 3000 trees at Glenlude, with each tree representing one person's recovery journey.

In 2025, the partnership received the RSPB’s Nature of Scotland Health & Wellbeing Award.

And the Trust now hopes funding can be found to create more accessible paths around the site, and develop an accessible tree nursery, allowing people who are in wheelchairs or who have significant mobility issues to get out and volunteer working there.

“We have more work to do to link up different spaces. We want to create raised beds for wheelchair users to work on and other similar projects,” said Gareth.

“Glenlude is a really interesting balance of a wild place that people can fairly easily get to and experience. It is a gateway into wild places and we are always wanting to do more to upgrade the infrastructure there to make sure the site is accessible to all groups.

"We've got an incredible group of volunteers who have been absolutely fundamental to Glenlude's success. As we continue our work in this wild place, we'd love to welcome more people to get involved and help shape its future."

• Glenlude is located just south of Innerleithen in the Scottish Borders, on the edge of the Southern Uplands. Easily accessible, it is within two hours travel distance from Glasgow, Edinburgh and much of the north of England.