10 Best Gardens continued...

Ardkinglas Gardens, Cairndow, Argyll The Ardkinglas Estate occupies a spectacular position along the upper four miles of Loch Fyne, also encompassing Glen Fyne. There is something enchanting about the woodland garden, with the River Kinglas gushing and gurgling among the mighty specimen trees.

Designated as a ‘designed landscape', the house, outbuildings, ornamental lake, walled garden, parkland and woodland, all combine to form a cohesive whole. Some areas are not open to the public, but the woodland garden alone is well worth a visit, covering 25 acres in a sheltered position amid the untamed Highlands.

Keep an eye out for red squirrels, an increasingly rare native squirrel, which still enjoys a firm stronghold in Ardkinglas.

www.ardkinglas.com Tel: +44 (0)1499 600 261 Open daily, all year round from dawn till dusk; Admission: £3.50, under 16s free Logan Botanic Garden, Port Logan, Dumfries & Galloway Southern hemisphere plants abound at Logan Botanic Garden, which is warmed by the Gulf Stream and in places feels more like a tropical paradise than the bracing winds and rain that we all associate with the British Isles.

You will find colourful blooms at any time of year, in a garden that is famed for its tender plants that would not survive elsewhere in Scotland.

Don't miss the Brazilian gunnera that produces the largest leaves of any outdoor plant in the UK, or the Chusan palms, rare rhododendrons and magnolias, or the magnificent water garden with its New Zealand c...

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• By : Sally Toms
• In : Best of Scotland
• Issue : 41
• Page : 56
• Words : 738