The best view of the 17th-century garden at Culross Palace in Fife is from the top terrace perched high above the steeply sloping, dramatically walled space behind the buildings. Reached via flights of vertiginous stone steps, it offers a striking, southerly view over the geometrically laid out beds of mixed herbs and vegetables below, all set against the ochre limewashed palace with its red pantile roof. Beyond it lies the vast expanse of the Firth of Forth with the modern outline of industrial buildings on the far shore west of Edinburgh. It’s a sight that stands in striking contrast to the 17th-century Royal Burgh of Culross with its narrow, winding, cobbled streets.
“Visitors are surprised by the garden,” says head gardener Louise Arnot, who has been in post since 2015. “It’s not until you step inside the palace that you are aware of the space rising up behind it.” The scene, she explains, is set by
