Professional Documents
Culture Documents
Scotland
This enabled the cultivation of fruits and veggies, and likewise of ornamental plants, which might not otherwise
endure that far north. The larger of the 2 gardens covers about 6 acres, located on a gentle south-facing slope.
South-facing slopes are the ideal area for walled gardens and for the cultivation of frost-sensitive plants.
To allow both the upper and lower parts of the garden to be flat and level at different heights, it was required to
bank up the earth on the higher northern side (far from the primary house), behind a maintaining wall about 16
feet (4. 9 metres) high, and 3 feet 3 in (1.
Walled gardens often included one hollow, or double, wall which contained heating systems, openings along the
side dealing with the garden to enable heat to get away into the garden, and chimneys or flues to draw the smoke
upwards. This particularly benefited fruit trees or grape vines that could, if grown within a few feet of a heated,
south-facing wall, be grown even further north than the microclimate created by a walled garden would typically
permit.
North elevation of the cupola. The pavilion, which is well above ground level when approached from the south,
might be entered at ground level from the north.
The building is a mix of architectural styles. The south (ground flooring) entryway takes the kind of a
characteristically Palladian Serliana archway, integrating Tuscan columns. Visitors who step through this archway
and into the vestibule listed below the pineapple face an elaborately framed doorway, flanked, on either side, by
pairs of painted wooden Ionic columns, sculpted with excellent care, which show perfect fluting and even
architecturally proper entasis.
The door, on the north side, exits onto the upper level of the garden. Inside the structure, the stone walls are
gently curved, so that the room is circular rather than octagonal. Even the door and the panes of glass in the 7
windows are curved, so regarding match the curve of the walls in the room.