There has been a garden at Leith Hall since at least 1750. The original garden was sited next to the Hall and was probably a kitchen garden, supplying produce to the Hall and estate. The garden was moved to its current position in the 19th century, with the western end through the entrance gate added in Edwardian times. The current walled garden covers 6 acres on a south-facing slope and is the highest-altitude garden in the care of the National Trust for Scotland.
Entrance
Flanking the garden entrance gate are two Pictish symbol stones dating from the 7th century. The top of the left-hand slab of whinstone depicts two fins of a fish, the rest of which has broken away; below is a horseshoe symbol ornamented with lines and dots. The stone on the right bears the Pictish symbols of a wolf, mirror, comb and an ornamented rectangle. Both stones were found in the local area (sadly already in a damaged state) in the 1840s and were moved to Leith Hall in the early 1900s.
The garden gate itself dates from 1905 and leads you into a unique Edwardian garden, developed by Henrietta and Charles Leith-Hay in the Arts & Crafts style in the early 20th century. The layout of this end of the garden is exactly as it was at the start of the 1900s. It showcases plants of varying colour, shape and texture and acts as a prelude to the magnificent herbaceous borders.
An Arts & Crafts garden
The garden was famed for its striking herbaceous borders, each planted in a different colour scheme to afford colour right through the season. The serpentine herbaceous border we enjoy today was laid out during this period. Although the planting is a modern design, it re-creates the spirit of the original with its block planting of frosted Artemisia ludoviciana ’Silver Queen’, Geranium psilostemon spilling over the path and the cheerful yellows of Anthemis tinctoria.
The Rock Garden
‘A rock garden of charming originality’ – this was how an article in The Scotsman described the Leith Hall rock garden in 1954.
Designed in the 1920s by Charles Leith-Hay and later planted by his wife Henrietta, the rock garden drew visitors to Leith Hall and was well documented in articles of the time. Following its drastic simplification in the 1970s, the current rock garden was constructed in 2013 using photographs of the original for reference.
Today, as in Edwardian times, from spring until late autumn there is a riot of colour around the rocks – from plants such as Aubrieta, Phlox and Erysimum in spring, through to Sempervivum and Helianthemum in summer. These are followed in autumn by the beautiful blue trumpets of Gentian.
The fernery
The ravine that houses the fernery was built in the early 20th century and was part of the rock garden. There is no record of how it was planted at the time, but ravines were typical in Edwardian gardens and made the perfect site for ferns, which were extremely popular.
At the time, Britain was still in the grips of the Victorian fern craze or pteridomania. From the 1830s until the First World War, botanists and gardeners – both amateur and professional – set about amassing spectacular collections of ferns in their gardens and in terrariums. Fern motifs were popular across glassware, ceramics, furnishings ... and even on the humble custard cream biscuit!
We have over 30 species of both native and non-native ferns in the fernery, including some that don’t resemble ferns as you may know them.
Did you know?
The nymph sundial at the entrance to the fernery has been a long-time resident of the garden – it featured in a 1938 Country Life article. The stone griffin under the bridge is a more recent addition.
Edwardian Kitchen Garden
It is likely there was a kitchen garden at Leith Hall since it was first built, but the first official record is from 1750 and shows it located right next to the Hall.
The current kitchen garden was developed in the late 1990s as a replica of a typical Edwardian kitchen garden. In keeping with traditional use, it grows produce for the Hall to use in the tearoom. Any leftover produce is sold in the garden, with the money raised being used to develop the kitchen garden further. We strive to grow heritage varieties of vegetables that would have been available to gardeners in Edwardian times.
Fruit trees have been at Leith Hall since at least the 1750s. Between the orchard and the trained trees in the vegetable garden, we currently grow over 20 varieties of apples as well as pears, plums, cherries, currants and berries. Many of the apples are Scottish heritage varieties that were grown during the 18th and 19th centuries.
The Moon Gate
The Leith Hall moon gate is a now-rare example of what were once common features in many Scottish estates. They reflect a growing interest in China in Scotland in the late 19th century – many gardens included items of chinoiserie such as stone lanterns, pagodas and moon gates.
In 1833, William Leslie of Warthill (a village 9 miles from Leith Hall) visited Canton, and on his return he built a moon gate in his new garden. Soon afterwards, a moon gate was built at Logie Elphinstone (near Inverurie) and then at Leith Hall. This series of moon gates are linked by ties of friendship and marriage, which eventually extended from Aberdeenshire to Hertfordshire.
The Leith Hall moon gate was designed by Charles Leith-Hay and built by Mr Mackenzie, a local blacksmith, in about 1900. Unusually, it was placed at the top of the garden against a background of a steep slope – it offers no view from the garden. However, it is possible that it was designed in reverse: to provide a view of the garden for those passing outside.
