Design Inspiration from a rainy day in June and a Scottish garden full of interesting plants. This week’s blog is largely a photo blog, letting the flowers, trees and shrubs of Cawdor Castle Garden do most of the talking.
It was a very damp day, overcast with that constant fine drizzle that epitomises a British summer. But the weather didn’t stop the garden at Cawdor Castle from looking wonderful. Or rather the three gardens – as the whole is made up of The Walled Garden, The Flower Garden and The Wild Garden.
The family motto ‘Be mindful’ may not mean ‘take time to reflect on the delights of this garden’ but it is a good interpretation – the garden has many different faces and they reveal themselves through glimpses and long vistas and then suddenly close to.
The Walled Garden
The Holly Maze was being renovated when we were there (a good excuse for another visit) but the knot garden was a delight, as was the orchard with its statuary.
The Flower Garden
Originally the borders gave interest in late summer when the family were there for the shooting season. The planting has been added to and this looked lovely in mid June with Himalayan blue poppy (Meconopsis) and other early herbaceous perennials.
The Wild Garden
We were admittedly a bit rushed in this area, as the weather was turning, but the azaleas were of course lovely.
Auchindoune Gardens, belonging to the dower house wasn’t open on the day we were visiting, so its Tibetan garden is on our wish list.
Cawdor Castle did not actually have anything to do with Macbeth until Shakespeare put the two together in a play, as the castle wasn’t built until the 14th century and Macbeth was king of Scotland in the 11th century.
“This castle hath a pleasant seat; the air nimbly and sweetly recommends itself unto our gentle senses”
[Shakespeare, Macbeth]
Is at least a true reflection of Cawdor Castle Garden; we took away lots of garden design inspiration from our afternoon there and look forward to our next visit.
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