Great Scottish Gardens & Parks: Threave Gardens…

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Threave Gardens Sculpture – Mr Fox © 2015 Scotiana

Thank you Mairiuna for such a lovely virtual visit of the Kennedy Castle Gardens in your most recent article and I’m pleased to pursue in this series on Great Scottish Gardens and Parks, by opening the gates of the spectacular gardens of Threave Estate.

Ready ? Follow the guide! 🙂

In the care of the National Trust for Scotland, the Threave Estate, House, Gardens and Countryside are located off the A75, one mile west of Castle Douglas in the Dumfries & Galloway region.

Threave Gardens & Estate – Visitor Centre © 2015 Scotiana

Threave Gardens – Information panel © 2015 Scotiana

If you want to avoid disappointment, be sure to spare enough time in your day to explore the magnificent gardens created over the years by students of the Trust’s School of Heritage Gardening, as each minute spent within the estate is a beautiful experience!

Threave Gardens – Close up – Information panel © 2015 Scotiana

As you can see on the above map, there are many different areas to discover:

·         Walled garden (originally built to provide Threave House with fruit, vegetables and cut flowers.)

·         Peat garden

·         Rock garden

·         Patio garden

·         Rose garden

·         Woodland garden

·         Pond and waterfall

·         Discovery Garden

·         Secret Garden

·         Glasshouse (built in 1997 with temperature zones)

·         Cool House ( shelters rhododendrons from Asia )

·         Tropical House (contains tropical flowers such as orchids, bananas and bird-of-paradise plants.)

A wide range of plants and wildlife can be seen all over the estate.

Threave Gardens – Sign Post © 2015 Scotiana

Threave is a teaching garden with a very wide range of attractions to interest every gardener.

It has been developed since 1960 with the needs of students at the School of Heritage Gardening, garden-owners and tourists all in mind.

https://vimeo.com/99331933

Daffodils in spring, roses and colorful herbaceous beds in summer and dense heather gardens in autumn. There is a beautful Victorian-style conservatory in the working walled garden.

Below are pictures we took while walking along this peaceful and lovely estate composed of so many gardens!

Threave Gardens – Flowers © 2015 Scotiana

Threave Gardens – White Lily flowers © 2015 Scotiana

Threave Gardens – Blue Poppies © 2015 Scotiana

Threave Gardens – Blue Poppies © 2015 Scotiana

Threave Gardens – Colorful flowers © 2015 Scotiana

Threave Gardens – Alyssum Spinosum flowers © 2015 Scotiana

Threave Gardens – Colorful and flowers © 2015 Scotiana

Threave Gardens – Clematis ‘Doctor Ruppel’ flowers © 2015 Scotiana

Threave Gardens – Saxifraga – white ‘rose’ style © 2015 Scotiana

Threave Gardens – Limnanthes douglasii – Poached egg plant © 2015 Scotiana

Threave Gardens – Glass House © 2015 Scotiana

In the above picture,  we are inside the glasshouse which displays many exotic plants native to tropical and temperate regions of the world.

Threave Gardens – Glass House – Tropical plants © 2015 Scotiana

Threave Gardens – Glass House – Tropical plants © 2015 Scotiana

Threave Gardens – Glass House – Donations Orchid Collections © 2015 Scotiana

We gladly contributed to Mr Orchid’s fund raising in order for him to make it all happen 🙂

Threave Gardens – Ronald Rae – St Francis Sculpture © 2015 Scotiana

Many sculptures can be found inside the gardens and you just can’t miss Ronald Rae’s St Francis sculpture of granite/basalt which pictures Saint Francis with bird and fox.

Threave Gardens – Ronald Rae – St Francis Sculpture © 2015 Scotiana

Threave Gardens – Ronald Rae – St Francis Sculpture © 2015 Scotiana

Threave House – Dumfries & Galloway © 2015 Scotiana

Threave House was designed in 1871 by John Dick Peddie (1824-1891) and Charles Kinnear (1830-1894), who ranked among the leading Edinburgh architects of the period.

It’s baronial style was built with red sandstone from Castledykes in Dumfries, a quarry whose stone was used throughout Scotland and elsewhere in the late 19th and early 20th centuries.

When the NTS acquired Threave House in 1957, the Scottish Baronial Style was so unfashionable that there was even talk of demolishing it.

The estate we now know as Threave did not receive this name until the mid-nineteenth century. Before this time it would have been identified as the parish of Kelton, and it appears in this form in maps and histories of the area.
The beautiful, undulating landscape of the Threave estate forms one of the most multi-faceted properties in the care of the National Trust for Scotland.

Within its boundaries is an ever-developing, working garden, where expert horticulturists of the future are trained; an estate of international conservation importance, where farming co-exists creatively with forestry and wildlife; and, overlooking it all, a fine house whose architectural merit has at last received its due attention.
Source: NTS Threave brochure

Threave NTS brochure

I sincerely hope that you enjoyed this journey in one of the most beautiful gardens of Scotland and wish that you get to visit same on your next trip in the Dumfries & Galloway region. Fun for all the family!

Until next, all the very best,

Janice

PS: Stay tuned for the next article in the Great Scottish Gardens and Parks series which will feature Hornel’s beautiful garden nestled behind the Broughton’s House.  A delight to explore. 🙂

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