The magic of Castle Kennedy is evident from the moment you drive through the entrance gates and see the White Loch with the 19th-century Lochinch Castle, the family home of Lord and Lady Stair, in the background. The drive winds its way along the loch before reaching the humpback bridge across the canal that links the spring-fed White Loch on the west and the peat-bottomed Black Loch to the east. To the right, the canal is lined with a row of exotic palms. On the left, it is backed by a magnific
Behind these are some 75 acres of landscaped gardens, sited on a peninsular sandwiched between the two lochs. Here are magnificent woodlands, laid out with a network of drives and walks, and formal gardens with lawns and terraces. There are many rare
and unusual plants, varieties that thrive thanks to the beneficial effects of the Gulf Stream, which warms this part of south-west Scotland.
The ruined 16th-century Castle Kennedy, ancestral home of the Earls of Stair, remains the focal point around which the gardens have developed over the centuries. A new chapter began two years ago when Jamie, the 12th Earl, married Emily, a passionate gardener, whose former home in London's Shepherd's Bush was "jam packed with plants". Their son Jack is now three months old. Emily brings to Castle Kennedy not just her passion for gardening but the teamwork skills she acquired during a career in marketing.
"There are three of us working here," Emily explains. "My mother-in-law, Davina, has done a lot to the garden and we are building on what is already here, and drawing on her experience and knowledge." Another vital team member is head gardener John McArthur, who trained at Threave Horticultural College and who this year celebrates 20 years at Castle Kennedy. A staff of one plus part-time help and occasional contractors assist him; 100 years ago the garden employed 30 full- time gardeners.
Jamie, who has always loved the garden, had many dreams about what might be done here but decided to wait until he married before renovating the house and starting work outside. The timing, he explains, is right.
"The garden is mature and we are at the beginning of an exciting process of revitalisation," he says. Exactly how this process will go forward is something he and Emily are exploring together – working side by side in their study. They have just embarked on a long-distance learning course in horticulture at the Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh.
The first step, they explain, involves looking at the historical overlay of the gardens, parts of which were designed by the 1st Earl of Stair in the early 17th century. The 2nd Earl extended the gardens around the ruins of Castle Kennedy after it was accidentally burnt down in 1716. "It will be fascinating to find out why he did this," says Emily, who spent much of her first year at Castle Kennedy walking round with her husband trying to take everything in. "After all that they moved to a house on the west side of the White Loch," she says. "We are trying to work out why things were done in a certain way. Looking at it historically is important – what happens from there we don't yet know, but it is a strong way to start."
The Boat House was recently rebuilt with help from Historic Scotland but plans to restore the old walled kitchen garden are at the embryonic stage. Within the policies, Jamie is keen to open up vistas and overgrown avenues and widen the views from the two-acre Round Pond, which was almost certainly laid out when the land between the two lochs was drained in the 1800s.
"Trying to establish the chronological sequence for the layout of vistas and wide avenues is both interesting and fun," Jamie says. "You have to look around a bit before you work things out." A piece of the puzzle recently fell into place, he explains, when he discovered how the main vista from Lochinch Castle lines up with the drawing room window and not with the front door as had been thought.
Jamie's grandfather, who established Scotland's Garden Society, was fond of rhododendrons and it is due to his foresight and planning that Castle Kennedy comes alive in the spring when the network of broad avenues lined with rhododendron hybrids are in flower. "Some of those rhododendrons have grown so large, however, that they tend to block views and destroy the flow of the garden," Jamie says. Deciding what to cull, and how, is something the couple will not undertake lightly.
"Having a garden like this is wonderful and a challenge," says Emily, who last year established snowdrop safaris that take visitors on a tour around the garden and the loch. She is keen to involve the local community in the garden as much as possible and is researching ways in which this might be done. "The garden is home to so many people," Emily says – some people come here to walk on a daily basis, and there is a keen group of bird-watchers who keep an eye on the wildlife, which includes seven different types of geese.
There is a lot to learn and the couple are still discovering hidden, overgrown chunks of garden and last year uncovered plantings of snowdrops and primroses in an old graveyard.
"Gardening means a lifetime of learning and we have to be patient," Emily says. "We are taking time to get the plans together and work out how to do things. It is a vast project."
However that happens, restoring this relatively unknown gem to its rightful place as one of Scotland's foremost gardens is certain to be worthwhile.
Castle Kennedy & Gardens are situated four miles east of Stranraer on the A75 Stranraer/Dumfries Road, signposted from both directions at Castle Kennedy village. The gardens are open daily from the end of March until 30 September, 10am to 5pm, or by appointment. Admission £4, OAPs £3, children £1, disabled free. Season tickets and group discounts are available. The grounds are open under Scotland's Gardens Scheme on Sunday 11 May. Visit
www.castlekennedygardens.co.uk or tel: 01776 702024 for more information.
