Which gardens are open for the new Fife spring garden trail?

12 wonderful gardens to visit over 1 month in Fife.

Escape to the countryside this springtime for the Fife Spring Garden Trail. This is an unique opportunity to peep in some of Scotland’s finest gardens, many of which are normally unavailable to the public. It’s been a wild winter so the idea of the verdant colours of April is a pleasing thought.

These twelve wonderful gardens open to raise money for charity, namely the RHET Fife Countryside Initiative and Riding for the Disabled Fife, with Scotland’s Gardens Scheme. The trail runs from the 10th April to the 23rd May. Tickets can be bought before the event here or at the garden gate, and a map of the gardens can be downloaded below.

Buy your tickets here

CAMBO PLANT FAIR, Kingsbarn, KY16 8QD, Trustees of Cambo Heritage Trust
T: 01333 451040 E: mail@camboheritagetrust.org.uk
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Invited nurseries will join Cambo to provide a wide range of rare and interesting plants. There will also be a Scotland’s Garden Scheme Fife plant stall, with plants propagated from local gardens. A great day out for the family. Children’s activities, daffodil meadow, walled garden and woodland walk to the sandy beach. Tearoom in recently restored Georgian Stables.

CRAIGFOODIE
Dairsie, KY15 4RU
Mr & Mrs Murray
T: 01334 870291
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There has been a house at Craigfoodie since the 1680s and the Murrays have inherited a rich tapestry of snowdrops, aconites, daffodils, primroses, scillas and rhododendrons. To these they have added fritillaries, erythroniums, brunneras, tulips, crocuses, trilliums and many other interesting plants and shrubs to welcome the spring.

Visitors will enjoy the woodland garden, fine walled garden with its raised terraces and a stroll round the Knoll.

CRAIL GARDENS
2 Castle Street, Crail, KY10 3SQ
Mrs Jeni Auchinleck
T: 01333 450538
17 Marketgate, Crail, KY19 3TL
Mrs Kathleen Main
T: 01333 450284
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A mature and romantic courtyard garden stuffed with a huge variety of spring bulbs, and flowering shrubs at Marketgate. The Castle Street garden is renowned for its spectacular echiums, already reaching for the sky in May, and taking full advantage of Crail’s coastal climate.

KENLYGREEN HOUSE
Boarhills, St Andrews KY16 8PT
Mr & Mrs John Kilgour
T: 01334 880303

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This A listed house has a wonderful setting next to the Kenly Burn, with carpets of bluebells complimenting the wide variety of mature specimen trees, including Acers, Nothofagus and Metasequoia. Formal gardens and a terrace surround the home.

MYRES CASTLE
Auchtermuchty, KY14 7EW
Henry & Amanda Barge
T: 01337 828350
enquiries@myrecastle.co.uk

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Formal walled gardens reflecting the style of the Vatican Gardens in Rome, acknowledging the former owners’ papal connections. Gardens include a lily pond, cherry tree avenue and walk, topiary, rhododendrons and bluebell woods.

SOUTH FLISK
Blebo Craig, Cupar, KY15 5UQ
Mr & Mrs George Young
T: 01334 850859 W: www.standrewspottery.co.uk
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A flooded former quarry forms the centrepiece of the enchanting three acre garden at South Flisk. There are spectacular views of north Fife and beyond. Boulders, cliffs and the many big, mature trees form a backdrop for all manner of spring bulbs, rhododendrons, magnolias, azaleas, and carpets of colourful primulas while the woodland area sports meconopsis, trilliums, podophyllums and some beautiful hellebores. At the front of the house (a former smiddy) is a charming, mature walled garden with traditional cottage garden planting.

STRAITON FARMHOUSE
Straiton Farm, Balmullo KY16 0BN
Mrs Barbara Pickard
T: 01334 870203
bmpickard@clara.co.uk
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A profusion of spring bulbs and unusual flowering shrubs and clematis inter-planted with well established borders in this delightful, walled farmhouse garden. Some of the more unusual shrubs include Grevillea, Cornus, Teucrium, Crinodendron and Piptanthus.

THE MURREL, Aberdour, KY3 0RN,
Mr & Mrs AJ Bowen T: 01383 860156
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An historically important garden, the wonderful planting compliments the 1908 house, and is included by Jekyll in her book Gardens for Small Country Houses. The south facing walled garden, with two terraces, contains many tender plants, shrub, peony and herbaceous borders, two rockeries and a courtyard garden. Beyond is a burn with moisture loving plants, a woodland garden and meadow with spring bulbs, and a picturesque glen.

THE TOWER
1 Northview Terrace, Wormit, DD6 8PP
Peter & Angela Davey
T: 01382 541635 or 07768 406946
adavey541@btinternet.com
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Situated four miles south of Dundee, this one acre Edwardian landscaped garden has panoramic views over the River Tay. Set on a hill, a series of paths meander round ponds and a small stream, rockeries featuring hellebores and low-level planting, a curved lawn and larger borders. Original woodland paths lead to a granite grotto with waterfall pool. At the rear of the house the vegetable garden features raised beds made from granite sets. We have recently removed rhododendrons to create more space for seating and flower beds.

WEMYSS CASTLE
Coaltown of Wemyss, KY1 4TE
Mr & Mrs Michael Wemyss, Wemyss Estates Trustees
T: 01592 652181
wemyss.gardens@gmail.com
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The gardens comprise a spring woodland garden of some 15 acres with a very fine display of Erythronium revolutum followed by bluebells and narcissi. Since 1994 the contiguous redundant six acre walled garden has been substantially overhauled and redesigned by Michael and Charlotte Wemyss with completely new planting and landscaping concentrating in particular on clematis, roses and ornamental trees. The walled garden’s east brick wall, clothed in numerous Clematis montana varieties is one of the most wonderful sights of spring.

WORMISTOUNE HOUSE
Crail, KY10 3XH
Baron & Lady Wormistoune
T: 07905 938449
ktaylor.home@googlemail.com
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The 17th century tower house and gardens have been painstakingly restored over the last 20 years. The walled garden is a series of ‘rooms’, including a wildlife meadow spangled with fritillaries, cowslips and primroses, productive potager, magical Griselinia garden, wildlife ponds and rill, and recently planted mid and late season perennial borders. Outside the walled garden, enjoy woodland walks around the newly re-landscaped lochan, and newly established nuttery, which will be bursting into leaf in the spring.