Page 48 - Simply Vegetables Autumn 2023

Part of the group
Annual Garden Visit
We never know how many members will actually be present on these occasions and arriving at Shepherds House Garden about 10.30am I was delighted to see a large number of “well kent” faces. By 11.00am we had 36 members attending, from all parts of Scotland. I was guesstimating on 20-25 for catering, but a couple of quick phone calls to the local hotel, and to my wife (“put another cake in the oven!”) soon addressed the positive numbers.
Lord Charles Fraser welcomed us to the Shepherds House garden and gave us a
brief outline of the history on the area, he bought the house in 1958 for the princely sum of £4,500 and as they had 4 children it was a “football” field for some time, before they actually began serious work on designing the garden.
Lady Fraser is a very accomplished
artist (with some of her beautiful paintings on display in a small gallery), and it was evident that her eye had a big hand in
the garden layout with a fantastic water
rill running the length of the garden, and lots of interesting statues and artwork throughout, including the shell house, designed and built with seashells from floor to ceiling.
We spent a pleasant hour looking round, chatting to friends not seen for some
time, sheltering in the greenhouse from a mild shower of rain, then headed a short distance across the road to the Inveresk Lodge National Trust Garden.
This is a surprisingly large garden, with two distinct areas, sloping lawns and borders at the top of the hill, and wilder
John, Neil & Alistair in deep conversation
woodlands and ponds below. The garden dates back to 1781, it was used during the second world war to grow vegetables and was bequeathed to the National Trust in 1958. Again, the weather was kind and another hour passed quickly.
Lunch was close by at a brewer’s fayre Inn, where most of us had the Sunday carvery, and one or two non-drivers had a pint or glass of wine.
Our proposed visit to Willie Punton’s fuchsia garden was called off (Willie felt that very few plants were in flower, and not too exciting), so the motor cavalcade (after careful planning!) set off for Rosemains, home to Keith March.
I was last to leave the hotel, and first
to arrive, but thankfully we did not lose anyone. Keith has a lovely cottage style garden in a delightful country setting and
Jim’s flowers
Jim’s Long Beetroot
Glass house - Shepherd’s lodge
48 Simply Vegetables