Today instead of sitting inside someone’s house on a nice day like today, we decided to go wander around the gardens at Dumfries House which is not far away. About 30 mins from where we are but 5 mins from where we were visiting the relos. There’s a lot of detail about Dumfries House on their website so I will save time and link you to it to read at your leisure, but basically it was going to be auctioned off and Prince Charles saved it and is now very involved in the running of it and visits quite often. One of the interesting things about this house is it’s amazing collection of Chippendale furniture, so all of that was saved and preserved also. We go there quite often as the gardens, coffee shops, restaurant and gift shop are open all year for free. If you want a guided tour of the house, you have to pay for that and we did once, but now we mostly enjoy the gardens.
Outside one of the huge greenhouses is this gorgeous display of Lady’s Mantle (yellow) and Cat Mint (purple). I have both in my garden but it doesn’t look like this lol. The cats tend to roll around in the cat mint and squish it so it gets crushed. I wonder if the local cats are drawn to this garden when the tourists are not around. Lady’s Mantle is one of those useful plants that is often used to make teas and tisanes especially for “women’s problems”. It also is a self-seeding beast and turns up all over the garden in places where you didn’t ask it to grow! They don’t seem to have this problem though, but then they do have a team of gardeners working full time!
This huge tree reminds me of the Whomping Willow from Harry Potter (it’s not a willow but it just looks like it is ready to whomp you.) That pot next to it is giant sized!
These photos are not in any particular order but this is part of the walled garden. We sat on this handy bench for a while enjoying the sunshine and the beautiful gardens.
I just really liked these pots and how they were arranged in the corner.
I also loved all these rows and rows and rows of raised beds, some of which were empty, but others were growing veggies and flowers like the one above. They use their own produce in the cafe and restaurant.
Here’s a look at part of the walled garden from the top of the hill where the cafe is. A lot of the old wall had to be restored or rebuilt.
It really is a beautiful place to visit. The cafes and restaurant can get busy, but not so many people venture as far out into the gardens and grounds which are extensive. There are also plenty of picnic tables dotted around the grounds and in shaded areas under the huge trees.
Hope you enjoyed seeing this beautiful place!
[updated 020822 to fix formatting]
Thanks for visiting today. Your comment is really appreciated.