Be dazzled by colour in Fife

Sally Lorimore and Eric Wright, long-time supporters of Scotland’s Garden Scheme, are encouraging people to visit their three-acre garden throughout spring and summer so they can see it change with the seasons.

Willowhill Summer Border
Willowhill Summer Border

For £20, you can buy a season ticket that gives entry, with one guest, to Willowhill Garden on as many as 18 open days in 2022. The ticket comes with a 35-page booklet describing how Sally and Eric created the garden near Newport-on-Tay, Fife, to fit into the rural landscape. There’s a lot to see — from herbaceous borders that blaze with colour to a large wildlife pond, paths curving through grassland and an array of specimen trees. Mixed borders surround the house along with a vegetable plot and nursery area where Sally pots a variety of plants for sale.

Sally loves a garden with “zingy colours” and one border in dramatic shades of orange, magenta and acid yellow was inspired by the design on a friend’s vintage tea set. The couple have been opening Willowhill as part of Scotland’s Garden Scheme since 2008, raising tens of thousands of pounds for our charity and a range of local causes. Even during 2020 and 2021, and the Covid lockdowns, they raised more than £5,000.

As retired medical research scientists, Sally and Eric are particularly alert to preventing infection. During Covid, they realised that if they opened the garden more frequently, the number of visitors would be spread out, giving people more space to wander safely. Visitors enjoyed the relaxing time they could spend in the garden, especially if they came with a friend or relative. “We opened more regularly and found people enjoyed it,” Sally said. “That’s why we introduced the season ticket.”

Sally encourages people to bring snacks or a picnic lunch to enjoy in the beautiful surroundings. A polytunnel is available to shelter from rain. An added attraction is the Strawberry Shed next door, selling farm-grown produce.

Saturday 26 March and Monday 28 March are the first open days in 2022, followed by 23/25 April28/30 May, 25/27 June23/25 July, plus all Saturdays and Mondays in August.

 

Season tickets are available by post (cheque for £23, inclusive of P&P and payable to Scotland’s Garden Scheme) from Sally Lorimore, Willowhill, Forgan, Newport-on-Tay, Fife, DD6 8RA or online at: https://bit.ly/38xbjcQ