Scottish Day Trip to Peebleshire, Thursday, 13th July ....

With a lot of chatter, it seemed like no time till we crossed the Border and arrived at the first of three different, but special, walled gardens on our itinerary arranged by Jancie & Jude.

Garden I - Newhall, Carlops

Newhall became an identifable estate c.1406; when a Royal Charter was granted to the Crichton Family. Since 1998 the Kennedy Family have owned Newhall with it's baronial hall and demesne of 1,000 acres.

 http://newhallestate.co.uk

The walled garden was built about 1790, by Robert Brown. At the centre is,
"a lodestone statue of Adam, the first gardener, ready to delve".

Intent Listeners...

 

We were intrigued to find that earlier summer flowers (e.g. alliums) were still flourishing along with July's herbaceous bounties ( e.g. Lysimachia puncata - loosestrife). Someone commented that this may be due to the relative altitude, the Pentlands hill tops are just above 1,000'asl.


Garden II - Kailzie, Peebles 

This is a much younger walled garden, developed during the 19th century (1812). The present owner is Angela, Lady Buchan-Hepburn, whose daughter, Jane Percy, Duchesse of Northumberland, redeveloped The Alnwick Garden.

 

The double herbaceous border repeats in calming hues of blue, yellow & white. The view is over to  the River Tweed and the Leithen Hills beyond. 

And the backdrop to this border is a romantic two tier fountain shielded by wrought iron gates.

There is an abundant rose garden room and beside the Laburnum Walk is the potager where cut flowers grow in happy abundance with vegetable crops.

 Interestingly the kitchen garden (in French - le jardin potager) in Scotland is known as a kailyaird! 

Within the sleeper raised bedded potager sits a new sundial with this inscription in latin,

 "omnia regit lumen sed tempus"

John Simpson helped with a translation, which though didn't follow the classical latin grammer requirements, the meaning suggests that "light rules all, but time"

 

Here the Victoiran Greenhouse shelters fruits such as figs, apricots & peaches. There are tender climbers such as mimosa & plumbago. All of these are ignited by the riots of colour from the  pelagoniums & coleus.

Garden III - Portmore, Eddleston

Our final stop was to the youngest garden, which has been lovingly brought back to life and extended over the last thirty years. We were warmly welcomed by owner, Mrs. Reid and her two delightful grandchildren, Beatrice & Archie. After our garden tour we were all kindly invited into the drawing room and dining room for afternoon tea.

The current Scots baronial house was designed by David Bryce, but the estate dates back to the mid eighteenth century. The redesign of the orginial garden by Mrs Reid provided us with a masterclass in design: the "rooms"(rose / herb / potager / herbaceous borders), planting combinations for height, colour and texture. 

This together with such superb plant quality was quite simply, inspirational. A definite must see again garden.

http://www.portmoregardens.co.uk

 

The new 2002 Water Garden with statues to make you jump!

All in all a high day for us all.

TR

Local Cumbrian Evening Garden Visits - 5th & 6th July...

I'm sure we all enjoyed relaxing evening garden visits to Sylvia & Peter Thompson's eleven year old garden at Brockleymoor Farm, Plumpton. There was a lovely mix of herbaceous plants, lawn and maturing gravel gardens to savour. The veg patch was very ordered and the harvest looks to be bountiful.

The views out into the landscape from the garden enhanced the garden's setting. At one point a hot air balloon even drifted by.

Thank you Sylvia & Peter for your generous hospitality.



We also think that Monty, your 2yr old dog must have slept well after our visits!

And a special thank you to Joyce for arranging these evenings.