The slow-flowing water gives no hint of the full extent of its power – yet without one man’s attempt to harness it 100 years ago, the charming Japanese water garden that lies further up the hill would not have existed.

For two weeks in the autumn, or less if the weather is stormy, this garden is on fire with reds and gold. The maples turn from green to scarlet with the first frost, while the cercidiphyllums become tinged with orange. The crisp leaves of red oak, Quercus rubra, cover the ground and through the middle of these colours cascades the burn.

Nearly a century ago this splendour was the creation of Hylton Philipson who bought Stobo in 1904 from the Montgomery family, a move that restored the estate to its historic owners: Mr Philipsons’s wife, Nina Murray, was the daughter of Lord Elibank who had owned Stobo since the Reformation.

Initially Mr Philipson did not set out to create a garden. He first built a dam across a valley, forming a loch in the hills above the castle with the intention of providing

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