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Some conifers are 200 years old |
The garden at Kirknewton House in West Lothian dates from the mid-17th century and has been developed by descendants of the same family who drained the surrounding moorland and turned the estate into agricultural land.
The present incumbents, Charles and Tinkie Welwood, who were born and bought up in Kenya where they lived until after their marriage, moved to Kirknewton 24 years ago when Charles inherited the house from his father Laurence Maconochie Welwood.
Charles explains. ‘Most of the garden originated under Alan Maconochie the son of 2nd Lord Meadowbank in the mid-1800’s. His son John married Emma Welwood and they continued to develop the garden.’
Situated at 650ft the garden divides neatly into three sections consisting of an open L shaped space at the front, a formal garden at the back and a walled garden. The house – approached from the east – is attached on the west to a tall wall, the remains of the mansion built by William Playfair (1789–1857).
This mansion was demolished after World War II when dry rot was discovered but the remaining wall serves the purpose of hiding the formal garden sited on the south of the house.
The formal garden is surrounded by a framework of mature trees – some of the beeches are 200 years old although some planting was done by Charles’s grandfather in 1934 – and is laid out with symmetrical stone paths and planted with yew hedges, topiary and clipped shrubs. This garden that explodes with the vibrant colours of rhododendrons in the spring exudes a special charm in winter when, on a clear, frosty morning, the dark outlines of the mature conifers are lit from behind by a low sun to contrast with the bare branches of beech trees.
‘I love the wonderful winter skeletons of the beech. Stripped of their leaves in the winter they open up views from the house, which stretch as far as the Firth of Forth,’ Tinkie says.
In the walled garden plants and shrubs are chosen for the length of their flowering season and for year round interest.
‘I enjoy the autumn and winter colours,’ Tinkie explains as we walk past a yellow tinged yew hedge surrounding a bench. ‘And I love the shapes and the different greens of the conifers. It took me a long time to learn to see that there are many different greens, there are blue-greens, grey-greens and yellow greens.’
Initially she was busy bringing up her son Robert and did very little gardening. ‘I don’t think you garden much when you have young children,’ she says, ‘you don’t have time.’
Living in Kenya – she and Charles grew up on farms 12 miles apart from each other although they did not meet until
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