18th century Midlothian mansion transforms grounds with robotic lawnmowers

Located ten miles south of Edinburgh, the 18th century Penicuik House has been transformed by robotic lawn mowers who are now maintaining its formal lawns.

The three robotic lawn mowers were able to maintain the gardens' high standards (Photo: Penicuik House).

With 500 hectares of designed gardens established in the early 1700s, Penicuik House was able to maintain their prized grounds with three Husqvarna Automower robotic machines which were installed 18 months ago.

Looking to move towards a ‘greener’ way of working, the Penicuik House team purchased three models, two Automower 550 and a Automower 52 from Husqvarna which have low energy consumption, zero emissions, low noise and high productivity.

The team has commented that the modern grass-obsessed robots have saved them time and money, allowing them to focus on more complex jobs around the estate.

The Penicuik House team purchased three models, two Automower 550 and a Automower 52 from Husqvarna which have low energy consumption, zero emissions, low noise and high productivity (Photo: Penicuik House).

Scott Hall, operations director at Penicuik House said: “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.”

“Initially the team were slightly sceptical, and I couldn’t blame them as it’s a big switch, however, it didn’t take long for them to see the benefit.

“Not only that, the mowers save us money each month, and help with our aim to become ‘greener’.

The robots have saved the estate's team time and money, allowing them to focus on more complex jobs (Photo: Penicuik House).

"Automower do not require petrol or oil, and the longer they are out mowing, the healthier the lawn becomes.”

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.

Mr Hall said: “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.

The mowers can be controlled from a remote where users can change its settings, track its movements and receive notifications if anything unusual happens (Photo: Penicuik House).

“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.”

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