Dunvegan Castle Gardens | Garden Visit

Our visit to Dunvegan Castle Gardens on the Isle of Skye was a sheer delight. We were lucky in that the sun had decided to shine (not always guaranteed in Scotland in June)

The gardens, in the north of Skye, have been refurbished over the last thirty years or so, but originally date from the eighteenth century. Dunvegan is the oldest continuously inhabited castle in Scotland; it is the ancestral home of the Chiefs of Clan MacLeod and has been for 800 years.

The castle is built on a rocky outcrop on the shores of Loch Dunvegan, and the gardens benefit from the gulf stream which nudges up against the coast of Skye. The softening effect of the gulf stream extends the range of planting that can be grown in this northerly garden, so some quite tender plants can be found waving at you from the herbaceous borders.

There are about five acres of formal gardens, plus lochside and woodland areas. Dunvegan Castle gardens have the main formal garden areas of the Walled Garden; which is the old kitchen garden, and the Round Garden, a more recent development.

The Round Garden can be viewed from above as you walk along the drive from the entrance gate. From this angle, the strong outline of the hedging and bold, colourful planting can be truly appreciated. A timely reminder that we probably view our own (much smaller!) gardens from above more often than we realise. This birds-eye view is worth consideration when designing your garden; if all you see from your bedroom window is the washing line, perhaps it’s time for a change…

To my mind, the Water Gardens form a link between these ‘nature tamed’ borders and paths, straight lines and box hedging and the wildness of woodland and the Skye heaths and moors that lie beyond the estates boundaries. The Water Garden with its bridges over reflective streams, a waterfall, and riverside planting – primulas, ferns, persicaria, iris – has a very different feel to it. The contrast works well.

The Walled garden is filled with many different features, arguably a complete garden within a garden. To delight the senses there are vibrant herbaceous borders bursting with uncommon flowers as well as those you might expect.

You’ll find towering Giant Scabious thrumming with bees; jewel-like blue Meconopsis, the Himalayan blue poppy waving from a shady place by the wall and glowing Erica carnea, glowing more yellow than the June sun.

Walk through the shade of the larch pergola towards the unusual vertical sundial; dabble your fingers in the water lily pond and admire the feathery foliage of carrots in the vegetable patch.

And if you’d like a change from horticulture, rest a while on the stone seats of the Clan MacLeod parliament seating.

If history and garden tools interest you, the old gardeners’ stone hut houses a small garden museum. The vintage Scottish scythes have a ‘Y’ shape handle, different to the curved English scythe.