Kubota at Blarney Castle

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With over 400,000 visitors to Blarney Castle and Gardens each year; Ireland’s top visitor attraction is well known for not only the famous Blarney Stone but also for it’s award winning landscaped gardens and estate grounds. Behind the scenes however keeping it’s extensive lawns, flower beds, verges and landscape features in immaculate condition is a team of 12 full time grounds staff with their fleet of 8 Kubota’s.

With over 400,000 visitors to Blarney Castle and Gardens each year; Ireland’s top visitor attraction is well known for not only the famous Blarney Stone but also for it’s award winning landscaped gardens and estate grounds. Behind the scenes however keeping it’s extensive lawns, flower beds, verges and landscape features in immaculate condition is a team of 12 full time grounds staff with their fleet of 8 Kubota’s.

Kubota has been associated with Blarney Castle and Gardens for over 20 years, with an old B20 series tractor still going strong now joined by three RTVs, a G21 ride on mower, U50-3a mini excavator and two zero turn mowers.

Blarney Castle’s Kubota’s are used all year round, from developing new landscaping projects out of season to everyday mowing which starts early in February through to the end of October.
Since Adam Whitbourn Head Gardener/Grounds Manager joined five years ago – Blarney Castle’s ground care fleet is now predominantly orange, choosing Kubota because of two key reasons–reliability and trust, both for the brand and with the local dealer.

Adam feels it’s important to have a good dealer relationship;
“I trust the brand and the dealer who offer great support on the ground when we need it. If I have any issues, Atkins are always quick to respond – which is good to know if there is ever a problem”.

The G21 is the 3rd Kubota mower Blarney Castle has run, with a G2100 being their last machine. The G21 was selected due to the restricted access over the estate walkway bridges and its compact wheelbase offered the maximum mower size and power to maintain the grounds.
The zero turn ZD326 and GZD mowers were purchased for their high output and speed of operation are mainly used for rough-cut areas, relying on these mowers excellent turning circle and manoeuvrability around trees in the arboretum.

The U50-3a supplied by Kubota construction equipment dealer MP Crowley is used every day for new landscaping projects such as the standing stones circle put in last year

Commenting on the Blarney Castle’s mowing season which starts from February right through to the end of October, Adam comments;
“ We have one man mowing full time when grass is growing racking up 1200 hours plus a year so it’s important to have a solid built machine as it gets lots of use”.

All three RTVs are used to move grounds staff and equipment around the estate for grounds maintenance work.

“Our latest RTVX900 has just got ROPs without a windscreen because of the amount of low lying trees we have on the estate. Our dealer Atkins has also adapted our RTVs with roof racks for carrying tools and implements. It’s very seldom our RTV’s are not in use. They save time, they’re very flexible from carrying grounds staff to quick and easy loading and unloading with their tipping beds. They are also good off-road and harder wearing than other machines we’ve used previously.

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