The rain showed no sign of abating but we were not to be deterred from our mission. Following Pitmuies, we headed along to Dunninald Castle, where not only did we get a brief period of light drizzle, we were also treated to a guided tour by owner Mary AND she gave us lunch #winning!
100s of acres of woods, a walled garden with a listed greenhouse, an ancient beech avenue which was awash with bluebells (in Winter it’s a great place to see snowdrops in abundance too).
Sadly, the day we’d dedicated to some serious garden-visiting around Angus and Dundee turned out to be a cats and dogs (and bitterly cold) one. Nonetheless, we ventured forth and Pitmuies Gardens were first up.
Disclaimer – this is actually my boss’s garden and I’ve been dying to visit after seeing it in a recent press article. Handily, our recent tour around Scotland made it the perfect place to pitch camp so we got to have a good look around.
Inside the greenhouseInside the greenhouse
I have both serious greenhouse and walled garden envy, and raised beds and polytunnel envy for that matter! In fact, this is precisely the type of garden I would love one day.
The Herbalist’s GardenVegetable Garden
The physic garden is so interesting, everything is handily labelled so you can see what ailments the medicinal herbs can be used to treat. The pollinators must be going wild in here just now.
The Herbalist’s Garden
As if that’s not enough there’s woodland, a lovely lake, highland cows, pigs and chickens too and everything is organic.
I would definitely recommend a visit here – all you need do is email herbalistsgarden@gmail.com and they will happily show you around during the months of June, July and August – more info here.
Last week I was on a bit of a garden-visiting tour of Scotland, starting with a meeting at Fingask Castle at Rait where ‘Alice in Wonderland’ topiary is the order of the day. We also had a guided tour from owner Andrew Murray, who took us down the dell to St Peter’s medieval wishing well.
Topiary at Fingask Castle
It was just 5 minutes down the road to Glendoick Gardens which is only open to the public in April and May – boasting a unique collection of rhododendrons and magnolias in the woodland garden it was definitely a sight to behold.
Glendoick Gardens
The perfumed Rhododendron Tinkerbird, a compact hardy hybrid was absolutely divine – sadly it’s been selling itself so well by wafting its wares all over the place that there were none to be bought in the garden centre but I have got my name on the waiting list.
Rhododendrons at Glendoick Gardens
There were flowers and colour absolutely everywhere and it was a real pleasure to wander around.
Rhododendrons at Glendoick Gardens
The garden centre and cafe at Glendoick, which are open all year are great – the sort of place you can spend a small fortune, and with a big smile on your face!
