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Dumfries House

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Dumfries House has been an extraordinary experiment in local regeneration through the restoration and development of an ancient estate in a challenging part of the country. The gardens have been key in this and employ several hundred locals as well as providing a free park for all locals with cafes and a walled kitchen garden as well as the maze for which we designed and built some vaguely Japanese themed incidents – obelisks and a tea house at its core. The estate also provides training and education schemes for children and young people, artists and artisans from all over Scotland and our green oak architectural notes – a temple, woodland arbours and rustic features – are intended to inspire an interest in history, architecture, wooden construction, the qualities of materials such as oak, whole tree trunks, and antlers, and it was hoped that much more could be done in the garden to celebrate Scotland’s achievements through an allegorical garden to the east of the house. Sadly planning authorities were not keen on the ideas which encompassed the art, philosophy, engineering, brewing, distilling, manufacturing, and early origins of Scottish culture in a way that echoed the great gardens such as Stowe in Buckinghamshire.