Undiscovered Scotland

 

Castle Kennedy Gardens can be found just off the A75 three miles east of the centre of Stranraer. Actually, "just off" doesn't really do the estate justice. Having turned off the main road you drive for the better part of a mile through parkland and past a beautiful loch before arriving at the car park. Here you find the entrance and nearby tea room, together with the focal point of the gardens, the ruin of Castle Kennedy.

The gardens are some 75 acres or 30 hectares in extent and occupy the isthmus that separates two lochs, The Black Loch and the White Loch. The ruin of Castle Kennedy occupies a high point that dominates the bulbous southern half of the isthmus and from here the gardens extend north past a large circular pond to the narrower northern part of the isthmus. Here public access ceases as you encounter the private areas of the estate which extend to and beyond the very-much not ruined Lochinch Castle.

What you find is gardening on a vast scale. The landscapes have been sculpted into a variety of interesting forms and the collection of flora on display is dominated by a huge range of Rhododendrons in just about every colour imaginable topped off by magnificent trees. As well as large scale landscapes to enjoy, there are also more intimate areas such as the beautiful walled garden just to the south of Castle Kennedy. What is perhaps most striking is the range of types of garden on offer, complete with vistas over the two lochs and the two castles. (Continues below images...)

 

Castle Kennedy is known to have been standing since the 1300s, though the ruin you see today is mainly of a mansion built in 1607 by the Earl of Cassillis. The castle was destroyed by fire in 1716 and the then owner, the 2nd Earl of Stair, responded by laying out gardens around the ruin, a process that took 20 years. After the 2nd Earl died in 1747 the gardens were landscaped and largely lost. It was only when the 8th Earl of Stair stumbled over a copy of the original plan in a gardener's cottage that they began to be restored. This work was carried on by the 9th and 10th Earls from the 1840s. They also built Lochinch Castle in the 1860s in the Franco-Scottish style on a site to the north of the gardens.

The design of the gardens takes a little working out because, unlike may at the time, they weren't intended to be viewed from some grand estate house. At the time there was no grand estate house and it is unclear whether it was intended either to rebuild the original Castle Kennedy or to build something more modern close to it. As already noted, Lochinch Castle didn't arrive on the scene until the mid 1800s. At that time further gardens were designed and built around the new castle.

The 1800s were a time when plant hunters roamed the world in search of unusual or spectacular species that could be shipped back to the gardens of rich patrons in Britain. The very favourable climate at Castle Kennedy meant that many species survived here that might not have survived elsewhere. But you don't need to know the history or even much about plants to find this an amazing place to pass a few hours.