Pitmedden Garden combines its 17th-century origins and more recent agricultural past into a unique experience at this museum in North East Scotland. Seeing the garden in all its grandeur today, with its straight lines in hedges and lawns, makes it hard to believe that there was a time when the garden was filled with bushes and the trees filled with fruit.
After a fire in the early 1800s, Pitmedden House and the garden were maintained by the Keith family. During the world wars, Major James Keith transformed the garden into a farm and kitchen garden to supply Aberdeen and the surrounding area with a large, healthy crop. Within the garden today, the espalier apple and pear trees along the great walls and the magnificent herbaceous borders are remnants of this agricultural period at Pitmedden Garden.
Major Keith was a leading figure in agricultural progress during his time and the impact of his farming infrastructure is still noticeable today. Visit our Museum of Farming Life to get a feel for what it was like to live and work in the early 1900s. Pop into the farmer’s living room, check on the horse in the stables, and see if you can recognise any of the tools or machinery in our implement shed. There is lots to discover!
If you want to find out more about the farming approaches Major James Keith used, pop into our traditional tearoom and have a look through his book.
