Achi news desk-
The ancient towers of Kellie Castle date back to the 14th century, but after more than 500 years of occupation, the castle and the garden it overlooks had slipped into a long slumber when in 1878 he found to a new and sympathetic tenant in the form of James Allan Lorimer, Professor of Public and International Law at the University of Edinburgh.
Professor Lorimer had decided that this Medieval building, close enough to the Firth of Forth to feel the salt breezes blowing up the estuary, was the perfect place for her six talented and artistic children to spend their summers.
Perhaps it was the old stones or the romance of living in a castle that inspired them, but among those children were the future portrait painter, John Henry Lorimer and his brother, Robert Lorimer, who would go on to be one of the best architects in the country. arts and crafts movement.
Along with their siblings, the Lorimer brothers poured all their energy into the garden, which was in a dilapidated state but rich with potential.
They recognized that the years of neglect had actually protected the garden from ill-advised improvements and what they had on their doorstep was a traditional Scottish ‘pleasure’, an enclosed garden attached to a castle designed to delight the senses.
After repairing the walls and clearing the brambles the Lorimers took bush cuttings and grew holly, roses, soft fruit and vegetables. Some subtle changes were made to the plan. A central grass avenue was created and the corners at the eastern end of the garden were enclosed to form two ‘gardens within gardens’ – a feature that was to reappear in Sir Robert’s later work. Then in 1900 a stone summerhouse was added with one of Robert’s signature touches, a bird-like creature sitting on its roof.
In everything they did the Lorimers respected the ‘spirit of the place’, nurturing and repairing the garden but doing nothing to disturb its inherent nature.
For more than 25 years Robert’s sister, Louise, devoted herself to the garden and later Robert’s son, the sculptor Hew Lorimer, who was born in Kellie, would live there with his wife the artist Mary McLeod Wylie. After Mary’s death in 1970 the castle was bought by the National Trust for Scotland. Today, Kellie remains a romantic cluster of food and flowers where Scotch Dumpy hens roam free and bees weave their way drunkenly towards the wicker sprigs that sit in three of the holes original bees that have been installed in the walls.
Kellie is situated just north of Pittenweem, one of the most beautiful fishing villages in the East Neuk of Fife in Fife. The garden faces south and the high walls which protect it from coastal breezes also trap the heat, concentrating the scent of the Jacobite roses (Rosa x alba ‘Alba Maxima’) which burst from the center the nepeta and delphiniums that grow along the blue and white borders along the central avenue.
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The delphiniums take the place of the hollyhocks, which eventually succumbed to rust, and the defunct double hedges of Rosa mundi have been replaced by perennials.
One entrance to the garden leads through a south facing terrace which may have once been an archery green. Today peaches and figs grow in its shelter and kiwi fruit ripens in glass growth. More fruit, including old varieties of apples, grow around the inner walls and gooseberries are grown as cordons to reduce the risk of mould, while the most shaded corner is reserved for 24 varieties of rhubarb.
Since 1990, Kellie has been organic and the fruit and vegetables are sold to visitors, continuing the centuries-old tradition of the garden being productive while delighting the senses on the once
Details: The castle is open every day, 11am – 4pm, the gardens and estate are open from dawn to dusk.
Admission: £12.50/£10.00/££7.50/£1 (Young Scots)/ NTS members free.
Contact: Tel: 01333 720271 [email protected] www.nts.org.uk
Kellie Castle stands three miles north-west of Pittenweem.
In association with Discover Scottish Gardens www.discoverscottishgardens.org
