Who doesn’t love visiting grand gardens! They are places where we can enjoy lavish planting and landscaping on a grand scale. Last year we were lucky enough to have a stand selling SeeHow at the BBC Audley End Flower Show, in Essex. The garden grounds at Audley End were redesigned by Lancelot ‘Capability’ Brown and include the familiar ‘ha-ha’ ditches, superb specimen trees, a lake with bridges and acres of rolling green grassland that extends to the horizon. Audley End House looks stunning, set within this surreal environment. Adjacent to the south-facing façade are the remnants of the original formal gardens, where neatly patterned beds filled with brightly coloured flowers can be found. They were not swept away in the ‘Brown’ makeover – indeed they were consciously retained and are separated from the grassy prairie beyond by a ha-ha. Invisible from inside the house, this allows horses, sheep, cattle (and people) to wander right up to the very edge of the garden but prevents their access into the garden itself. Formal parterre gardens such as these, often containing rare (at the time) and beautiful flowers, were a symbol of the wealth, education and ambitions of the owners. They were almost as important as the house interiors and furnishings.

We are so used to seeing Capability Brown’s romantic version of landscaping that most of us have not seen gardens planted the way they would have been enjoyed before the mid-18th century. Quite simply, most grand gardens were replanted in the new style, without much thought as to what was being lost. But not all. One garden that largely survived the process, even though it was substantially renovated in the 1840s, is Drummond Castle in Perthshire. Quite simply it is one of the best surviving examples of a Renaissance garden left in the UK. Access to the garden is via the castle, built upon a natural rocky outcrop, raised well-above the level of the Renaissance garden itself. The first view of the gardens is therefore quite sudden and unexpected. It is laid bare before the visitors’ eyes in a single panorama that is nothing short of breath-taking … like some romantic ‘fairyland’ just waiting to be explored. The scale and brutal strength of the stone castle walls contrasts superbly with the finesse of the Renaissance planting – trees, shrubs, fine sculptures, parterre hedges, topiary and flowerbeds – arranged in intricate geometries that catch and hold the eye. Such gardens set the owner apart and Drummond Castle garden would certainly have impressed visitors.

Spectacular view of Drummond Castle garden from the entrance courtyard

It is worth going back to Drummond Castle again and again – the vistas never disappoint. From the courtyard there are flights of steps down to the garden itself and from there, visitors can explore in any direction - through the flowerbeds and parterre patterned box-hedges or through the weird and wonderful topiary shrubs and trees. In addition to the formal gardens adjacent to the castle, there are longer vistas too, a small lake with bridge and forest walks through the out-lying estate, where visitors can enjoy longer walks.

I love the curious, sometimes lopsided topiary shapes. They cannot have been designed. Quite simply, we now enjoy the benefit of years of topiary pruning by a succession of gardeners. They are all a bit different – species, colours and textures, sizes and shapes – yet they all represent the same idea which gives them cohesion. As befitting a garden of this size, the flowering plants are grown in large beds so that their colours become large shapes that are easily seen from the castle. Roses are used throughout – bright red, yellow and white being the most common colours. Dead-heading must be a daily task! There are also beds of Agapanthus, Verbascum and many other plants, to create swathes of colour visible from afar. Despite the many colourful beds, the predominant colour is actually green, in all of its shades. There are also many shades of oranges, browns and purples created by the variety of shrubs and trees, including enormous copper beeches that form the dark woodland backdrop.

Dunrobin Castle garden in Sutherland is another location where the castle towers over the formal gardens. It is a spectacular setting, with the sea not far beyond the eastern boundary wall. These formal gardens are designed to be seen from the house and in effect, become an extension of the decorative style of the interior, projecting the wealth of the owner out into the surrounding landscape itself. Despite the romantic architectural design of the castle, with its many turrets looking more like a French chateau, and the drama of the setting, the Duke of Sutherland apparently rarely stayed there.

View from Dunrobin Castle down towards one of the formal beds and the sea beyond the garden wall

The formal planted beds contain a mixture of topiary hedges, shrubs, trees and flower beds too and they also now grow fruit, veg and herbs for the castle kitchen. Nearby there is an area of woodland for longer walks, that is famous for its snowdrops. Each year, Galanthophiles go there to enjoy the spectacle. They search the beds looking for unique snowdrop flowers that will extend the huge range of named varieties. New varieties do occur naturally, but they are extremely rare so very valuable. Of course picking is not allowed!

Snowdrops pushing through the winter snow

The above Text and all Photographs are copyright of Wincenty (Wicek) Sosna. Please contact SeeHow for permission to reproduce in any way, in part or as the complete text.

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