Prestonhall Estate - a Georgian time capsule

Having followed with interest the very informative Head Gardener’s blog that accompanies each month’s newsletter from the nearby Prestonhall Estate, near Midlothian, I was delighted to pay a visit to their gardens and grounds last weekend, as they were open under the Scotland’s Garden Scheme’s Snowdrop Days initiative.

An impressive 4 or perhaps 5 acre walled garden forms the core of the grounds. While the planting in the Walled Garden represents a modern reinterpretation of this enormous space and certainly not the traditional productive garden that would have originated here, there is clearly a lot of interest to be encountered during the summer months, with extensive herbaceous plantings throughout.

Much of the walled garden is divided into a series of hedged rooms, some really quite quirky and perhaps not what you’d expect to find in an historic walled garden. Some areas work better than others but all are conversation pieces and it’s clear that the gardening team have done much over the last couple of years to prevent further decline and commence restoration. This is a huge task and while there’s clearly a lot of herbaceous clearing-up to be completed before the arrival of Spring, as one would expect, the ‘bones’ of this garden are strong. The winter landscape is the ultimate test of this, most clearly seen from the two high-level gazebos that stand proud of the garden’s high walls. The grass paths and hedges are well laid-out, and, as is common in the Scottish formal garden, borders comprise shrubs and small trees as well as herbaceous, providing greater interest year-round. While a large restored lean-to glasshouse is clearly put to good use, it’s evident that over 100 years ago, glasshouses with heated walls would have covered the entire span of the south-facing wall. This was clearly the garden of a very affluent family in its day.

February is not peak garden-visiting time in Scotland but we did discover two fascinating areas, one modern and one less so. The modern was a rather lovely small winter garden in the corner of the walled garden with a large range of relatively young conifers of various form and colours, some really quite unusual including a number of weeping trees. Grasses, heathers and coloured stems completed the picture - together a fond homage to the 1970’s, when these plants were in vogue! The less-so was a rather magical rockery just outside the south- east corner. Few plants remain as this garden is largely shaded out by 3 or 4 conifers, presumably planted as dwarf trees when this garden was laid out, perhaps c.100 years ago. With so few plants, however, one can clearly see all the original rock-work that’s been set out, landscaped in hills and dips to affect some naturalism to the planting. Rockeries were a popular manifestation of the Arts and Crafts movement and I suspect this was added in the early part of the 20th Century. Some Leucojum and cyclamen remain resident, last survivors of what was probably a wonderful collection of alpines.

Beyond the walled garden lie the grounds with a remarkable collection of fine trees, many very elderly which have clearly survived the rigours of severe storms over the decades. Some of these trees have vast girths, dating back, one must assume to the early 1800’s and perhaps beyond. Evidence exists of a water garden, with stone steps, rhododendrons and box demarcating where paths through the ‘wilderness’ would have been. Unlike the stately homes that have become high-end hotels, the grounds at Prestonhall have not been tampered with, improved or turned into car-parks, allowing the visitor of today to enjoy largely the same views as those of 200 years ago.

It is clearly a financial challenge keeping Prestonhall afloat but the young family who live there now, the 13th generation, seem very committed to making a success of the place, and one gets the sense that this estate is in capable and sensitive hands. I think they realise that Prestonhall is really quite unique and I wish them well.

Prestonhall is an exclusive use venue with holiday lets but is open from time to time under the Scotland’s Garden Scheme.