Royal public garden opens
Prince Charles sanctions new Royal community and visitor a raction
Anew public garden has opened at one of the Queen’s official Scottish residences. Situated on Abbey Strand at the Palace of Holyroodhouse, the medicinal garden near the new Abbey Strand Learning Centre will not only be open to Palace visitors, but will also be used by school and community groups to explore how plants have been used medicinally throughout the ages, with seasonal planting inspired by some of the earliest recorded gardens on site.
Both the garden and learning centre have been created as part of ‘Future Programme’, a major investment initiative at the Palace by The Royal Collection Trust, a charity chaired by Prince Charles.
“In 1670 two Scottish doctors, Robert Sibbald and Andrew Balfour, rented a plot of land no bigger than a tennis court, next to the Palace of Holyroodhouse,” said the Prince. “Now, 350 years later, a new incarnation of the physic garden has been created at the Palace of Holyroodhouse by The Royal Collection Trust as part of a free space for the public to enjoy and learn from.”
The new garden consists of three distinct areas, each representing a phase in the Palace’s 900-year history. A flowering meadow of medicinal plants, such as daisies, sorrel and mallow, evokes the 15th Century monastic gardens of Holyrood Abbey. Nearby, flowering bulbs, including crocuses, tulips and alliums, have been planted in a geometric pattern to reflect the design of 17th Century gardens, while a third area with raised beds with fennel, borage and bergamot reimagines the original physic garden established in the Palace grounds 350 years ago.
The new public garden at the Palace of Holyroodhouse is open every day. Admission is free. n Visit: www.rct.uk/visit/ palace-of-holyroodhouse.