COMMUNITY
Experience:
Crarae Garden
As soon as you turn in to Crarae
Garden, you gain the sense
of arriving somewhere more exotic.
Palms and miniature monkey
puzzle trees line the driveway,
and even the visitor centre
resembles an alpine chalet.
The impression is enhanced
once inside, as you look up to
a backdrop of towering trees,
and, in late spring, the bright
blaze of rhododendron.
Crarae, a National Trust for
Scotland garden, sits on the
banks of Loch Fyne, near Minard.
Water cascades down
a steep gorge, bordered with
vibrant species native to more
humid lands, and walking up
the garden’s shady steps feels
as much like exploring fairyland
as scaling the Himalayan
Gorge it is often compared to.
There are fi ve way-marked
trails, of varying diffi culty,
though whichever route you
take, the gorge is the star of
the show. Water is central to
everything here, and you hear
it constantly, whooshing over
the falls, babbling in the burn,
or trickling around the edges
of the smaller ponds – it
certainly adds to the sense of
the spiritual, and may be the
reason that plants which have
failed elsewhere in Scotland
thrive here.
One of the delights of this garden
is the signage, which, rather
than inundate the visitor with
horticultural facts, displays poetry,
and tells stories about individual
trees and shrubs – from
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Crarae Garden
the giant Norwegian spruce
that was once Sir Ilay Campbell’s
Christmas tree, to the
Noble fi r which bears the scars
of a lightning strike.
Crarae was created in 1912 by
Grace, Lady Campbell (the wife
of the 5th baronet Archibald
Campbell of Succoth), a gifted
gardener with a particularly
useful family connection – she
was the maternal aunt of the
audacious botanist Reginald
Farrer, who spent much of his
career collecting specimens in
the mountains of Japan, China
and even Korea and Tibet.
Today, its good condition owes
much to the commitment of
the Friends of Crarae, a dedicated
group of local volunteers.
While the fl ame-coloured giant
rhododendrons that dominate
the landscape are Crarae’s
standard bearers, its autumn
colours are striking too, with
a show of maples, birch and
beech. The garden is also
home to several champion
trees, red squirrels, otters and
bats,
Crarae is a favourite with television
presenter Monty Don,
who says: 'This is not a prissy
garden – it is wild, untamed
and exotic.' Its National Trust
status ensures that it is a popular
tourist destination, but its
set back, between villages location
means that those who
live more locally can overlook it.
It is a shame if they do, as they
need only travel a few metres
from the Loch Fyne roadside to
enter a different world.
Crarae Garden is near
Minard on the A83. Adult
entry £7.50. www.nts.org.uk