Located 10 miles south of Edinburgh lies one of Scotland’s most influential 18th-century designed landscapes, Penicuik House.
Designed and built in the 1760s by Sir James Clerk, the vast estate features 750 acres of designed landscape, which operations director, Scott Hall, credits three Husqvarna Automower robotic lawnmowers for maintaining its formal lawns.
Standing within 500 hectares of designed gardens established in the early 1700s, Penicuik House prides itself on its impressive grounds and well-maintained lawns, which the public regularly enjoys exploring.
Looking to move towards a ‘greener’ way of working, Penicuik House turned to Husqvarna to help make the sustainable switch. Scott explains: “We had been using Husqvarna products for many years prior to adopting Husqvarna Automower. We’re very familiar with the brand’s chainsaws, trimmers and protective gear, having used them to maintain the vast grounds and to keep our staff safe, and felt Husqvarna’s robotic lawnmowers would impress also.”
After an initial consultation with Husqvarna’s Automower team, the Penicuik team purchased three models, two Automower 550 and a Automower 520, which were installed 18 months ago. “The installation process was incredibly smooth” said Scott. “The Husqvarna team spent a great deal of time ensuring the installation was set up perfectly, and the mowers have run seamlessly ever since.”
Ever since the first Automower was introduced in 1995, Husqvarna has been known as the world leader in robotic mowing. With over 2 million sold worldwide, Automower is renowned for its low energy consumption, zero emissions, low noise and high productivity.
Scott commented on his experience with Automower: “To say Automower has transformed our lawns wouldn’t be an understatement. The mowers trim such small clippings of grass which drop back into the lawn and act as fertiliser, which has improved the quality significantly.”
It’s not just the lawn that has benefitted from the introduction of Automower. “Initially the team were slightly sceptical, and I couldn’t blame them as it’s a big switch” Scott discussed. “However, it didn’t take long for them to see the benefit. The robotic mowers have saved the gardening team many hours previously spent mowing the lawns, allowing them to focus on more complex jobs around the estate.
“Not only that, the mowers save us money each month, and help with our aim to become ‘greener’. Automower do not require petrol or oil, and the longer they are out mowing, the healthier the lawn becomes.”
Using Husqvarna Fleet Services, Penicuik House’s gardening team is able to remote control the mowers from the press of button, and can change its settings, track its movements and receive notifications if anything out of the ordinary happens. Scott commented: “I use Husqvarna Fleet Services regularly and it’s brilliant being able to control the fleet, turning them on and off, and changing their schedules, all from the comfort of my office. On the odd occasion one of the mowers meets an obstruction, it’s helpful receiving alerts directly to our phones to notify us so we can correct it quickly.
“Automower has made such a huge difference to the way we work, and we currently have locations planned which will require an Automower 520, an Automower 535AWD and two Automower 550, which is testament to the Automower performance.”
