Isn't it just great when you wake up thinking that you'd like to do some gardening and the next thing you know the nice guy you've worked for once before calls you to ask if you're looking for work. Good old telepathy :) And not just that, you get to see one of the best gardens in the Scottish capital, one normally closed to the public, but about to open for the first time for one day only. So this is where I got the work with a little robin who would not leave my side.. :)
The perfect lawn at the north of the house
" The Edinburgh financier James Ivory was an Arts and Crafts enthusiast and commissioned Sir Robert Lorimer in 1907 to build a small mansion house and estate in Colinton."
Entrance to the garden on the right
"Lorimer evolved his own Arts and Crafts style centred on 17th Century Scottish Baronial architecture"
The doors evoke an old castle feel..
Lorimer chose this site in order to incorporate a water feature with a southerly aspect from the house.
The original garden was split into four areas: a kitchen and flower cutting garden, an orchard, a lawn area (partly over the roof of the wine cellar) and the main garden south of the mansion (where today's garden is).
"A dam and sluice gate were built to create a large pond and a second watercourse formed (now gone) diverting part of the flow of the burn further south to border on a giant rock garden that was built with massive stones brought to site. "
There used to be a series of terraces leading from the pond to the house, but they were demolished during major works in 1950s.
The current garden has three bridges..
and is fairly conservative in its planting style.
Hardly any ornamental grasses or messy meadows here!
But the owner knows her plants and makes sure the garden is kept immaculate,
which does produce a striking result.
That foxglove was and example of dilemmas faced by gardeners, as explained to me by my more experienced colleague.. :) The importance of exercising discretion and all...
