The Herald - The Herald Magazine
Open invite brings local history to life
Excitement is building for the forthcoming reopening of Dumfries House, where 170,000 visitors each year experience the sheer majesty of this 18th century estate for free.
WITH it’s glorious golden daffodils – around half a million of them – burst into bloom at Dumfries House, it is always a welcome sign of spring.
This year, more than most, staff at the stunning 2000-acre estate will be particularly relieved and delighted to see the flowers – and a little ‘normality’ - return.
“It feels good to be preparing for the house re-opening on February 5, to have some normality back,” says Gordon
Neil, Executive Director of The Prince’s Foundation, which has been running the estate after His Royal Highness Prince Charles saved it for the nation in 2007.
“There is a real buzz about the place again, after so many months of disruption caused by the pandemic.
“Most people employed here live within a 10 to 15-mile radius of the estate, which is good for local jobs, and the local supply chain.
“We are lucky to have 170,000 visitors a year and there is never any litter – I think that is the biggest indicator that the community sees this place as their own, and are proud of it. We are proud, too, to shine a light on this area of
East Ayrshire, which has suffered from negative publicity in the past.”
Designed by 18th century architects the Adams brothers, Dumfries House once the playground of the Marquesses of Bute - faced an uncertain future in 2007, until the aforementioned royal intervention saved the day.
Prince Charles brought together heritage bodies and benefactors under the auspices of the newlyfounded Dumfries House Trust to purchase the estate, stopping truckloads of furnishings in their tracks en route to Christie’s auction house in London.
Built in the 1750s for William Crichton Dalrymple, the 5th Earl of Dumfries, and furnished with original Chippendale furniture, the house is something of a time capsule. Following its acquisition by the consortium led by the Prince of Wales, the estate re-opened in 2008 following a painstaking restoration.
The crowning glory remains the magnificent collection of 50 pieces of Chippendale’s work, but, as Mr Neil explains, the rest of the estate has taken on a “lifeforce” of its own.
In addition to Dumfries House Lodge, luxury accommodation occupying the factor’s former house which dates back to 1750 and several self-catering options, there are woodland trails and pathways, gardens, an oriental maze, and a muchloved children’s adventure playground, which will re-open in March following a £500,000 renovation.
“Opening up the estate to the community was a key part of the restoration,” he says. “We pride ourselves on the fact the estate is free to all, and we do not charge for parking. During lockdown, this lovely, open green space was here for everyone to enjoy, and
that was very important to us, to recognise the benefit of that for people’s health and wellbeing.”
The estate is home to the Royal Drawing School, which offers residencies to talented young artists, as well as an engineering school and a hospitality school, all of which have been a boon to the regeneration of the local area.
The latter, in particular, is playing a key role in the rejuvenation of the food and drink industry in the damaging wake of the pandemic.
The estate’s stunning walled garden is the key. In addition to providing spectacular seasonal colour, it is also home to a kitchen and education garden which provides produce for the estate’s Woodlands Restaurant – which will reopen on March 4 - and teaching and training opportunities.
“We run a wide range of sessions and courses in the garden, from bringing primary schoolchildren in to learn about the food they eat to helping young people gain the skills they need to work in the horticulture industry,” says Mr Neil. “It is fantastic to see children learning, in very simple terms, about how to plant and grow food and then learning how to use it to make a healthy soup in our education kitchen. The Prince’s Foundation education team is very passionate about this work, and it is so easily measured – you can see the difference it makes to children, it’s very rewarding.”
Produce from the garden – everything from potatoes and pumpkins to cabbages and onions – is used in the estate restaurant, where a team of 13 chefs and assistants create high quality menus for diners, weddings, and special events.
“Ours is an open kitchen, where you can watch the chefs and trainees at work,” says Mr Neil.
“The hospitality industry is often seen as a stop-gap between university and work, or school and university.”
He adds: “We want to change that perception, to encourage people to see hospitality as a long-term and rewarding career. Before Covid, our training programmes were enjoying a fantastic success rate with more than 90 per cent of people getting full-time employment after completion.
“The industry has lost so much in the past two years - we want to breathe life back into it.”