Walled Garden 1721-1857

When William Adam began building Floors Castle for the first Duke in 1721, he undoubtedly had a hand in the improvements to the grounds.  His practical sense, always as strong as his aesthetic, ensured that Floors was protected on its north side by great avenues of trees.  Between 1837 and 1847 W. H. Playfair’s exuberant transformation of the Castle greatly added to the beauty of Floors in its setting and the Riverside walk offers one of the most splendid surviving landscape views in Scotland.  A proportion of the landscape was given over to gardening and the Walled Gardens came to life.  Made up of a four acre Kitchen Garden, a three acre Flower Garden, known as the Queen’s Garden and these were moved, replacing an earlier walled enclosure to their present site in 1857.

In their heyday, the Walled Garden at Floors exemplified the art and craft of gardening of the very highest level.  Mr Hector Rose, Head Gardener of the time of the move and, presumably, the first occupant of the delightful turreted Head Gardener’s House, was a man of outstanding ability and responsible for the first plantings in the glasshouses.