New nature hide completed at Dumfries House by King’s Foundation students

Students on The King’s Foundation’s Building Craft Programme have marked the charity’s 35th anniversary by completing the 35th ‘Live Build’ construction project in the UK, located near the iconic façade of Dumfries House.

The ‘Live Build’ construction project, as is now customary each year, sees students of the Foundation’s flagship programme that teaches heritage craft skills to the next generation undertake the design and build of an entire new structure, or elements of a restoration or refurbishment of an existing building.

The 2025-26 cohort of the Building Craft Programme, based primarily at Dumfries House, have built a nature hide so that visitors to the Ayrshire estate can spend time in harmony with nature.

The construction includes beautiful timber framing, ornate plasterwork inscribed with Scottish poetry, a wood-carved window, decorative carved stone, and an earth roof.

A pair of timber benches built and carved by talented students on an exchange from the Bahamas take pride of place alongside the shelter.

 “This Nature Hide will stand as a monument to the skill of our 2025 Building Craft Programme students, as well as the commitment of The King’s Foundation to preserving traditional craft skills, for generations to come. These skills ensure the preservation of historic buildings as well as the traditional techniques involved in shaping sustainable building materials.”

Dr Simon Sadinsky, Executive Director of Education at The King’s Foundation

The new structure joins a range of other ‘Live Builds’ across the Dumfries House estate – including the summerhouse in our magnificent arboretum, the Shepherd’s Hut at our education farm, and outdoor learning centres in our Outdoor Centre and STEM Centre gardens.

These structures join a suite of 35 across the country, from a ‘Goose Hoose’ in Scotland that is home to rare-breed Shetland Geese, a summerhouse in the historic walled garden at Hillsborough Castle in Northern Ireland, a Pavilion at Poundbury in Dorset, and a thatched-roof Bird Hide at Llangorse Lake in Wales.

Graduates of The King’s Foundation’s education programmes in traditional building skills – which include the Building Arts Programme, Building Craft Programme, and All-Ireland Heritage Skills Programme – go on to restore and preserve some of the UK’s six million historic buildings, including churches, cathedrals, monuments and eminent municipal buildings.