The charity has decided to continue the use of an honesty box during summer evenings at Inverewe and is appealing to the local community to encourage honesty box donations by evening visitors, to help the property balance its books and be treated fairly.

The Trust also noted the strength of local feeling over the access issue and was concerned that relations with some local residents had suffered as a consequence.

Mark Adderley, Chief Executive of the Trust said:

“We always strive to have a good relationship with the local community in each of our properties and I am keen to see the situation in Inverewe achieve that again with improved communications locally. We have listened carefully to local residents, whose support we value, and decided to continue with an honesty box out of hours to address the access issue.

“Inverewe is a very special place and as a charity, we must continue to look at ways to help balance the books there and attract new members, as we rely on membership for a large part of our income.

“We are also committed to starting a new Friends of Inverewe group and we will be inviting local residents to join the new Friends group in October. It’s important for us to plan this carefully and October is the most appropriate time, at the end of the busy summer visitor season.

“The local community has an important role to play in ensuring Inverewe’s future success, as the Garden needs the community and the community needs the Garden.”

The issue of free passes to the Garden to residents living in the Wester Loch Ewe area was deferred at the June public meeting for six months, to allow the gathering of information on the exact number of Wester Loch Ewe free passes there are in circulation and exactly how frequently they are used.