Dumfries House Walled Garden

The very earliest idea of a garden dates back to Persian walled gardens. The ancient Egyptians also did their gardening behind walls.

The many advantages of horticulture happening behind the shelter of walls then largely lapsed until the advent of the country house in the 17th-century British Isles. These were required to be largely self-sufficient, a single acre being considered enough to supply vegetables, herbs and fruit for a dozen people. These gardens were rarely so small, however, often extending to 20 or 30 acres requiring a considerable number of staff to maintain. The Royal Kitchen Garden, Windsor, for example, built 1844 for Queen Victoria was 22 acres, later enlarged to 31 acres. Such labour-intensive operations doomed most of these walled gardens in the 20th-century. A number of smaller ones have remained but larger ones typically fell into wrack and ruin. One such as that connected to the crumbling pile of Dumfries House in Ayrshire, Scotland. The magnificent Palladian-style house was built in 1750s for William Dalrymple, 5th Earl of Dumfries, on the banks of Lugar Waters and later inherited by 2nd Marques of Bute in 1814 as part of a 2,000-acre estate. The house was provided with specially commissioned Thomas Chippendale furniture, today forming a unique collection.

---

An earlier, open garden was converted by the 5th Earl into a five-and-a-half-acre walled garden to feed his establishment, despite a nine-metre difference in levels going from east to west. Included a pair of greenhouses, the Bothy Cottage constructed 1766, probably as the factor’s house and elsewhere a head gardener’s cottage. Located three kilometres west of Cumnock in southwest Scotland, Ayrshire is not the most amenable portion of the United Kingdom for gardening. Surrounding brick or stonewalls offer protection from boisterous breezes while serving as rear walls for lean-to greenhouses. Fruit trees and vines can be espaliered against them to supply such luxuries as peaches, nectarines and apricots even in such inclement climates. The interior of the garden could also be cut up by tall and dwarf hedges, even hardy fruit trees to create still further microclimates. These were cunningly utilized by Scottish head gardeners who were to become so famed elsewhere in the following centuries. As the 20th- century progressed, Dumfries House contents and gardens fell on hard times. Chippendale’s masterpieces were abused by the careless smoking of an occupier in the 1930s, while the gardens disappeared under weeds, their greenhouses and cottages collapsed into ruins. Oft-maligned Prince Charles was horrified to learn that the furniture collection was to be divided up and sent to auction houses. In 2007 he purchased the dilapidated mansion and the surrounding estate. He paid £45-million for it – and didn’t even have the money, noted The Mail on Sunday. He borrowed £20 million of it. He was forced to borrow the massive sum against his own Charles Foundation, putting at risk his entire life’s work and his credibility as Prince of Wales. In the seven years that have followed the restoration has created local jobs in a severely depressed area and resulted in a ‘palace for the people.’ In October 2011, he turned his attention to the wreck walled garden. The walls of red brick were in need of significant repair. Two new greenhouses, reproductions of the originals, were installed. Volunteers cleared away the undergrowth, planted an astounding number of traditional varieties of vegetables, herbs and fruit. The greenhouses became with flowers and seedlings – but only with a drawn-out tussle with invading hares. A battle was also fought against invasive leatherjacket bugs – all with the organic methods so favoured by His Royal Highness. Early last July, Prince Charles proudly showed his mother what had been accomplished. Central to the Queen’s visit was the official opening of the Dumfries Walled Garden, now an education centre for young horticulturists, and the second largest in the country. For more, visit www.Dumfrieshouse.org.