Lindsay’s garden had disappeared beneath 19th-century borders, so Historic
Scotland reconstructed a 17th-century parterre, framed by knee-high hedges
of box. The mottoes of Sir David Lindsay and his wife are spelt out in box
around four wedge-shaped beds planted with roses. Chequerboards of box
reflect the pattern of the walls, while in triangular corner beds, dwarf box
is clipped into two thistles, a rose and a fleur-de-lis to represent the
Union of the Crowns in 1603.
Edzell Castle, Edzell, Angus (01356 648631; historic-scotland.gov.uk).
Open every day, April 1 to September 30, 9.30am-5.30pm.
Kellie Castle in Fife
PIC: ANDREA JONES
The Firth of Forth can be glimpsed from Kellie Castle in Fife, a splash of
blue beyond its stone walls. The Scottish architect Sir Robert Lorimer spent
his childhood here, his late-19th-century restoration of castle and garden
inspiring his subsequent work at Earlshall, Hill of Tarvit and Formakin. To
a 17th-century framework he added a central walkway, a summer house and
corner gardens, creating a compactly pretty Arts and Crafts garden.
On a central lawn, encircled by a seat, stands an ancient apple tree. From
there paths of grass and gravel lead out, flanked by lichened fruit trees
and vegetable beds interplanted with flowers. Structure is given by box
edging, by yew enclosing a stone bowl carved by Hew Lorimer, by cordons of
pears and fan-trained apples, and by kiwis, figs and peaches on the
south-facing walls.
Kellie Castle, Pittenweem, Fife (0844 493 2184; nts.org.uk).
Garden open all year, 9.30am-6pm (or dusk if earlier).
- Mount Stuart, Isle of Bute (main pic, top)
On the other side of Scotland, Mount Stuart, ancestral home of the Bute
family, stands on the Isle of Bute, its 18th-century landscape garden and
lime tree avenue sloping down to the Clyde. The kitchen garden was built in
the 1870s, at the same time as the red sandstone Gothic palace that replaced
a Georgian mansion destroyed by fire. Along its south-facing wall are
trained plums and damsons above a border of lavenders and sage. It is
enclosed on the other three sides by beech hedges; these green walls shelter
planting that thrives in the gravelly peat.
The remodelling of the Victorian garden by Rosemary Verey in 1990 was
triggered by the 6th Marquess’s purchase of a large glass pavilion from the
1988 Glasgow Garden Festival. She surrounded it with box beds to echo the
pattern of the paths through the adjacent pinetum, with vegetables laid out
within in parallel lines. Above the pavilion are two fruit cages in beech
hedge compartments, while below are an orchard of apples, pears and
cherries, and a simple grass labyrinth.
Tender plants from around the world are grown inside the glass pavilion.
In 2000, James Alexander-Sinclair sensibly softened the garden’s harder edges
by turning several vegetable beds into herbaceous borders for a bravura
August display of chrysanthemums, dahlias, grasses and foliage.
Mount Stuart, Isle of Bute (01700 503877; mountstuart.com).
Open from April to October 31, 10am-6pm.
Cambo Gardens, Fife
PIC: ANDREA JONES
By contrast with Mount Stuart’s strict geometry, the two-and-a-half-acre
walled garden at Cambo in the East Neuk of Fife is a place of mystery, with
winding paths and hidden seats. It is given rare charm by its burn, which
tumbles headlong to the sea, jumping over waterfalls and beneath the
Georgian, rose-clad, wrought-iron bridges that predate the early-1800s
garden. The Erskines have owned the estate since 1668, although the house
was rebuilt after a fire in 1878. House and garden are separated by
woodland, carpeted in February by the snowdrops for which Cambo is famous.
Sir Peter Erskine came to the helm in 1976, and his wife, Catherine, has
developed the snowdrop business and transformed the walled garden. Instead
of serried rows of dahlias, bedding plants, fruit and vegetables, Catherine
and head gardener Elliott Forsyth have created a garden for all seasons,
mastering the art of successive flowering, yet with a climax in August and
September. Relaxed and naturalistic planting combines the best of modern
design with an underlying sense of tradition. A nepeta walk slices through
the garden, with alliums, hardy geraniums and roses scrambling over old
apple trees. The dazzling ornamental potager is laid out in a flowing mix of
vegetables, annuals and perennials.
A new Prairie Garden, with North American species grown at Cambo from seed,
links the walled garden to the Georgian stables, soon to be restored with
Heritage Lottery funding.
Cambo, St Andrews, Fife (01333 450054; camboestate.com).
Open daily, 10am-5pm. Free tours every Tuesday, March to October.
Castle of Mey, Caithness
PIC: ALAMY
This garden, on the tip of the mainland, faces due north over the Pentland
Firth. Salt winds whip in from the sea, yet there is a warm microclimate in
this two-acre garden that would not exist were it not shielded by a 15ft
wall and tucked into the lee of the castle.
When the late Queen Elizabeth the Queen Mother bought Mey in 1952, the garden
was a wilderness, which she reclaimed, paying her last visit only five
months before her death. Her favourite place was a south-facing bench in the
Shell Garden overlooking rose beds and nasturtiums, growing up like a hedge
of colour. She knew the name and place of every plant, and changes were made
at the gardeners’ peril.
Morning and Chilean glory are trained up inside the greenhouse, while outside
a ledge is filled with tubs of trailing lobelia, petunias and helichrysum,
and annuals are planted beneath in summer. Honeysuckle, clematis and
buddleia clamber over arches, and wall-backed beds are a mass of herbaceous
perennials.
Working rather than merely ornamental vegetable beds are rotated on a three to
four-yearly basis, and fruit cages are filled with raspberries,
strawberries, gooseberries and currants. The down-to-earth practicality of
this garden belies its royal ownership.
Castle of Mey, Thurso, Caithness (01847 851473; castleofmey.org.uk).
Open from May 1 to September 30, 10am-5pm.
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