Despite their exposed position, the gardens of Dunvegan Castle, home of Clan MacLeod for 800 years, have nurtured an important historic collection of species from around the world and are now going from strength to strength, writes Caroline Donald. Photographs by Paul Highnam for Country Life. One might remark that the somewhat dour-looking Dunvegan Castle , parts of which date back to the 13th century, is at the back of beyond; however, this is not in condemnation, but admiration.
Perched on a rocky promontory overlooking Loch Dunvegan in the north-west of Skye — itself the topmost of the Inner Hebrides — there’s really not much further you can go west, save for North Uist, before you hit the great Atlantic Ocean. The journey from the ferry or bridge connecting to mainland Scotland enforces this sense of isolation, before one travels through an almost lunar landscape, grazed over the centuries by sheep introduced from the Lowlands. Although it possesses a raw beauty, for those in search of horticultural delight there is little of promise.
All the more surprising, then, to discover at Dunvegan plant species from all over the world in a five-acre jewel box of delights so impressive that the garden was named a Royal Horticultural Society Partner Garden in 2022. It is also one in the eye for James Boswell, who noted in agreement with the Dowager Lady MacLeod on his visit with Samuel Johnson, 250 years ago, that, ‘the situation of Dunvegan be such that little can be done .
