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Difficulty:
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Terrain:
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Size: 
(small)
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Welcome to Jacobites “Vogrie Country Park Cache”.
This is a traditional small cache, which will take you through the beautiful open
parkland of Vogrie Country Park.
Vogrie Country Park is situated 12 miles from Edinburgh city centre, (3 miles
northeast of Gorebridge).
The centre piece of the park is Vogrie House, a beautiful baronial style mansion.
Built in 1875 for the Dewar Family (the whisky people), Vogrie House is said to be
the finest surviving work of Perth architect, Andrew Heiton.
The house has had a number of uses over the years, from family home, hospital,
school, police HQ, to finally being passed on to Midlothian Council in the 1980’s.
After speaking to the local Rangers at Vogrie, it would seem that house itself
suffers from under use. Apart from the Rangers Information Centre and the very
nice Cedar Café, the rest of this large building just isn’t being used.
The reason for this seems to be that old stumbling block……..Money!
Adjacent to the main house is the stable block, well, when I say stable block,
I mean stable block fit for a whisky baron's horse! The stable block merits a
mention of it’s own, with a boldness and attention to detail that the Victorian
architects of the day were famed for.
The local Brownies Group now inhabit the stable block, and have transformed its
interior to cater for large groups/schools wishing to stay there for a few days and
enjoy the many activities that the park has to offer.
In my opinion, this type of thinking should be applied to the main house itself!
But I’m just a grumpy Jacobite, so who’s going to listen to me!
Apart from my only gripe about the house, Vogrie offers something for every member
of the family. For the younger members, there is a large adventure play area.
The play area has had a recent make over, and now features some stunning
chainsaw carvings, of what I can only describe as giant Ents !
(Treebeard in Lord Of The Rings).
The Vogrie Miniature Railway is a must for the kids! It’s run by Esk Valley Model
Engineering Society, and runs throughout the summer on the second and fourth
Sunday of the month, from 2pm till 5pm.
Other things to see and do at Vogrie include, Victorian walled garden (with garden
centre), BBQ areas, 9 hole golf course, wildlife pond (please ensure that the Wee
Ones are supervised at the wildlife pond), a one hectare events area, giants chairs,
and The Cedar Café (open 6 days a week from 10am till 4pm at the main house),
plus river and wildlife trails. Oh! And the colony of Pipistrelle Bats that have
taken up residence in the attic of the main house.
The park is open to cars from 7am till dusk, but you can access the park 24/7 by the
pedestrian/cycle entrance 250 metres before the main entrance. (If you’re coming
from the Gorebridge side).
If you’re still feeling fit after this cache, maybe you’d like to try ARock&AHardPlace's
“Crichton Castle Cache”, which is about 1.5 miles south of this cache.
I hope you enjoy Vogrie Country Park.
Good luck,
Jacobite.
Additional Hints
(Decrypt)
Tb bire gur gerr gehax, naq ybbx evtug haqrearngu vg.