SEPTEMBER 2019 THE ENGLISH GARDEN 45A
jewel in the Scottish borders, Floors
Castle was built by the first Duke of
Roxburghe in 1721 as a Georgian
country house, with views over the
river Tweed towards the Cheviot
Hills beyond. Between 1837 and 1847, the castle was
transformed by the architect William Playfair into
the romantic, turreted design that still stands amid
the idyllic wooded parkland of the vast Roxburghe
Estate. Now the family home of the 10th Duke
of Roxburghe, and the largest inhabited castle in
Scotland, it is also well known for its spectacular
four-acre walled garden, which lies to the west and
is completely hidden from view by tall trees.
Built in 1865, the walled garden still plays an
important traditional role in the day-to-day life of
the castle, supplying fruit and vegetables for the
table along with cut flowers and decorative plants
to adorn the numerous rooms. Under the creative
influence of Virginia, the Duchess of Roxburghe,
an interior designer by trade, it has also become an
incredibly vibrant ornamental garden. She has been
able to draw upon the extensive plant knowledge and
enthusiasm of head gardener Andrew Simmons, who
came to Floors in 2006, having previously been head
gardener at Balmoral. “Andy and I have developed it
together, with the help and advice of Jim Marshall
and Sarah Cook,” the Duchess explains.
Jim Marshall first became involved during the
early 1990s, when he worked as a gardens advisor
for the National Trust and was asked for advice
following storm damage to the Star Plantation, an
area of ornamental woodland between the castle
and the walled garden. He later helped to create the
Millennium Garden, which was laid out in an area
adjoining the walled garden where there was once
a rose garden, overlooked from an upper terrace by
the Queen’s House (so named because it was built
for a visit by Queen Victoria) and a huge range of
glasshouses. Jim designed an elegant French-style
parterre displaying the initials of the Duke and
Duchess in crisp gravel and the Roman numerals
MM planted in box to mark the year 2000.
“The second stage of the parterre involved
planting Scottish varieties of apple trees that were
trained in the French style,” says Jim. Almost
20 years later, these carefully pruned specimens
of ‘Bloody Ploughman’, ‘Scotch Dumpling’ and
‘Galway Pippin’ clothe their circular frames and are
laden with fruit in early autumn.
FLOORS
CASTLE
GARDEN