Timeless Beauty

Scotland is littered with fine houses, many with remarkable histories, but few are as intriguing as Kemback House, near Cupar in Fife. It sits in a valley that has been populated since the Neolithic era and which, in much earlier times was submerged beneath the waves.

Evidence for this is laid down in stone in nearby Dura Den, a 3km gorge where fossil fish have swum through the rocks since the Devonian period.

The Romans fetched up here for a while and the mysterious, elliptical mound within the park could be a geological outcrop or just perhaps a Viking burial site.

Kemback itself began life as a 14th century tower house before a century later becoming a semi-fortified hunting lodge and home to Mariota Oliphant, great granddaughter of King Robert the Bruce and wife of Sir Robert Graham, whose actions in slaying King James I, brought him to a grisly end.

For a time the house was part of the Bishopric of St Andrews and land from the estate endowed St Salvator's college when the University was founded. Yet despite its vivid past, Kemback had passed through just three families before Christopher Thomson's grandfather acquired it in the early 20th century.

By the time Christopher and his wife Claire inherited it in 2009 the ancient house, much altered over the years and beset by rot of every degree, was in need of serious repair, but while it was being stripped back to its simplest layout and restored in an elegant, contemporary style, Christopher and Claire turned their attention to the walled garden and to the wider parkland in which it was set.

True to its medieval origins, the garden connects directly with the house. There are views over it from the library and the music room, so there was no question but that it had to look good all year round.

"In my grandfather's day it was very productive, growing food for the house and the estate but when my father lived here he had most of it put down to lawns."

Working first with designer Michael Innes, Christopher diverted one of the springs that rises behind the house to form a rill. Currants of all kinds grow against the wall behind it while the shuttlecock fern( Matteuccia struthiopteris), Solomon's Seal (Polygonatum multiflorum)  Astilbe 'Professor van dear Wielen' and Lamprocapnos spectabilis 'Alba' form a green and white fringe along the length of the watercourse.

Bringing water into the garden was one of Christopher's priorities and so a formal pool was also  created close to the greenhouses and adjacent to the Japanese garden where acers grow amidst heather in place of moss.

The Apple Walk that stretches from the house to the greenhouses was extended and underplanted with Lavandula angustifolia 'Hidcote' and hellebores. Purple and white alliums grow along the length of the Walk in early summer.

Next the herbaceous border and the rose garden were filled with mixed plantings of perennials and old roses.

More recently these have been transformed yet again by Colin McBeath of  Quercus Landart who has a philosophy of sustainable planting. It was he who designed the planting along the rill and he has packed the perennial borders with plants that perform over a long season, including architectural grasses such as Calamagrostis x acutiflora "Karl Foerster' that sustain the design during the winter months.

Other plants in the border include Persicaria amplexicaulis 'Firetail', which produces fiery Crimson spires on tall stems; American meadowsweet (Filipendula rubra 'Venusta'), and  Actaea simplex Autropurpurea Group "Brunette'. Even late in the year these statuesque perennials continue to perform.

"When the low sun catches the grasses they scintillate and the whole garden is infused with gold," says Christopher.

All are left standing until February, when they are then cut down and the borders are mulched with a thick layer of composted bark. It is a remarkably swift process.

"I work to a formula that no planting should take more than 15 minutes maintenance per metre a year," says Colin.

He also resisted altering the soil, but instead chose plants that he knew would thrive.

"I was a little concerned that growth would be too rapid because the soil here has been worked for centuries, but in fact few very things have ever toppled over."

By late in the year, decorative seed heads, like those on the giant cardoons, stand out against the sky, glittering on mornings when they are rimed with frost.  The garden sits on a west-facing slope and while the high walls shelter it from the south-westerlies that blow through the parkland, they are no protection against frosts, which can be severe, yet the plants selected by Colin survive.

"We replanted all the borders during December and for a time most of the plants were laid out on the paths with only sacking to protect them, yet despite severe frost they all came through," he says.

With the twin borders replanted, Christopher then tasked him with creating a border around the lower end of the rill with the request that the planting should resemble a Paisley shawl, so here Colin has interwoven Alchemilla, Astrantia, Tiarella, Veronicastrum  and other textured perennials, many of which colour up spectacularly in Autumn.

Next, working with Christopher and Claire's daughter, Heloise, he created an ornamental potager of edible flowers and a gourmet fruit garden where the unusual fruits include Honeyberry and, Japanese wine berry.  In winter the arching stems of the Japanese wineberry glow bright red and crab apples persist until after Christmas.

Beyond the walled garden lies the park, and here Colin has overseen the planting of 22,000 snowdrops. A further 11,000 bluebells have been added to the meadows where they have begun to create pools of blue amidst the rills and ponds.

For head gardener, Brian McDill keeping the watercourses in the park clear of leaves takes constant vigilance in autumn and last year he also had to drain the ponds to repair leaks caused by voles burrowing into the bank.

There are ancient trees in the park  including a 1,000 year old yew tree and a Spanish chestnut, one of a pair planted following the sinking of the Armada. Many are mentioned in the "White Book of Kemback', a fascinating record of the house and estate kept for more than 300 years by previous owners, the Makgill family.

Some are marriage trees, amongst them the lime tree that stands at the gate. In 1674, on returning from wooing his wife to be, Arthur Makgill place his lime crop in the ground and forgot to remove it.

"Legend has it that if a limb falls from the tree the head of the household will perish and that if the tree itself falls then so too will the entire family," says Christoper

So when the lime tree came down in a severe gale, Christopher had it raised again. Today it stands not quite so tall and supported by hawsers, but still flourishing.

KEMBACK HOUSE
Location: Kemback, near Cupar in Fife.
Features: walled garden and parkland
Soil: loam, much worked over the centuries.
Age of garden: 500 years
Aspect: west-facing slope.
Summary: an ancient walled garden that has been splendidly revived with contemporary plantings for year-round effect.
Open: Kemback House opens some years as part of Scotland's Gardens.

www.kembackhouse.com
www.quercuslandart.com