Colour burst

The drive to Balker Farmhouse ascends through the shade of an intriguing woodland, the banks a colour-burst during spring when handsome rhododendrons flout their blooms. A woodland garden falls away towards a reflective stream, a burn that threads through the western reaches of the plot. Unfamiliar sylvan foliage from Chilean natives, such as and the ferny leaved, draw the eye into the shadows, a tease of the unusual and exciting plants to follow. The mild microclimate of Dumfries and Galloway, a tranquil low-lying coastal region in the southwest corner of Scotland, make this a most favourable location for horticulture. The Stair Estate has a historic link with plant hunting and the creation of diverse planting schemes. At nearby Castle Kennedy Garden (the much-visited public garden of the Stair Estate) this is reflected in an outstanding collection of rhododendrons and champion trees. The coolness of the northerly latitude is tempered by the warming influence of the Gulf Stream and proximity to the sea. The soil here is lime-free, fertile and free draining with plentiful rainfall. Balker Farmhouse was the home of a strident plantswoman, the late Davina, Countess of Stair, who, in her advanced years made a private garden from scratch alongside the head gardener Annmaree Mitchell. The farmhouse was restored in 2002, and the garden, free from the strictures of a historic framework, retained a sense of order and formality close to the house. The views of a distant ice-house cottage and the rolling fields to the east are framed by a pair of gnarly stone pillars, usefully repurposed from an adjacent field gateway. This sets the relaxed and innovative tone. The hard landscaping at Balker is in the vernacular, materials recycled from local sources. Unusual trees and shrubs provide the bones over a long season. Monticola Group, the North American snowdrop tree, drips in pale blossom during spring and ‘Sunshine’, a vigorous mountain ash, weighs with in clusters of bright-golden berries late in summer then followed by a show of rich autumn leaf colour. Shapely boulders are strewn down a bank anchoring a collection of sub-tropical shrubs and a textural groundcover from New Zealand.