Intriguing gardens open their gates for scheme’s 90th anniversary

The gates to Angus and Dundee gardens with fascinating histories are being opened as part of the continuing unlocking of pandemic restrictions.

As part of Scotland’s Gardens Scheme, Gardyne Castle in Angus and a Dundee property sitting on the line of natural springs from which Tayside’s biggest hospital took its name will welcome visitors this weekend.

It is part of the programme marking the 90th year of the charity. Around 500 gardens are opened across the country each year through the scheme.

Gardyne Castle, near Friockheim, dates from the 16th century and is considered one of the most attractive small castles in Angus.

The fortified house with its stone-capped turrets now sits in the centre of an enchanting garden created by its current owners over the past 18 years.

The castle’s southern front was extended in the 17th, 18th and early 20th centuries.

Its formal lawn is surrounded by yew topiaries and specimen trees, leading to a wildflower meadow and orchard.

A new upper garden, centred on a pepper pot doocot, has been created to the north.

Admission is £5 with children allowed in for free.

Money raised will go to

Guthrie and Rescobie Parish Church and Scotland’s Gardens Scheme charities.

On a sloping site facing the river, No 10 Menzieshill Road is home to one of the nine wells in that area of Dundee’s west end. It was also the first and last water available to carriers’ horses on their way to and from the city.

It now feeds rhododendrons and camellias, many of which came from the Hampshire garden of the Exbury Estate owned by the Rothschild banking family.

Admission there is £3 and monies raised will go to Plant Heritage and Scotland’s Gardens Scheme charities.

The scheme’s Angus and Dundee district is also staging a garden trail across the area in June.

Most are new to the scheme and run from Dundee city centre to the coast around Arbroath, through Forfar to Edzell and across to Meigle. Dundee Botanic Garden will kick off the trail with entry for trail ticket holders over the first weekend, and the special Maggie’s Dundee garden will also be open.

Garden owners who open their properties can choose a charity of their own for 60% of the proceeds

The remaining 40% goes to the main beneficiaries of the charity, the Queen’s Nursing Institute Scotland, Maggie’s and Perennial.