Wester Ross gardens see visitors doubled

A botanical garden in the Highlands has become one of the UK’S fastest-growing visitor attractions thanks to its location on the route of a stunning coastal drive.

Inverewe Gardens and Estate, near the village of Poolewe in Wester Ross, saw a 109 per cent increase in visitors last year, according to figures published today.

The garden, which is owned by the National Trust for Scotland, contains an unusual array of exotic plants despite its northerly latitude due to the warming effect of the Gulf Stream.

The property also lies on the route of the North Coast 500, a scenic driving route that has proved immensely popular with tourists since it was created in 2015.

The National Trust acknowledgedthatthenc500hadbeen a “big factor” in Inverewe’s rising popularity. The property attracted more than 191,000 visitors overall in 2017.

Inverewe’s 800-hectare estate also attracts wildlife spotters due to its abundance of red deer, eagles, pine martens, otters and red squirrels.

The adjoining Inverewe House was also opened to the public for the first time at the end of 2016, allowing visitors to learn about how the gardens were established in the 1860s.

The annual figures from the Association of Leading Visitor Attractions (Alva) also show that visitor numbers plummeted at London’s most popular tourist attractions last year.

The British Museum, Natural History Museum, Tate Modern and National Gallery welcomed a total of almost two million fewer people in 2017 compared with the previous year.