Dunvegan Castle & Gardens shortlisted for Historic Houses Garden of the Year Award 2023
We are delighted to announce that Dunvegan Castle & Gardens has made this year’s shortlist for the prestigious Historic Houses Garden of the Year Award 2023 sponsored by Christies. Shortlisted entries are chosen from among hundreds of gardens, parks, and grounds that offer free entry to members of Historic Houses, the association that represents and supports the UK’s independent historic homes, castles, and gardens. Voting for the Garden of the Year Award is open to all, including both Historic Houses members and non-members. Please visit the Historic Houses website to vote before the award closes on 31 August 2023. The winner will be announced at the Historic Houses AGM on 14 November 2023 in London.
Making this shortlist, alongside six wonderful gardens including Blair Castle and Mount Stuart, is a glowing testament to all the investment, hard work and passion that has been bestowed upon Dunvegan Castle’s 5 acres of formal and semi-formal gardens since 1978, when the late John MacLeod (29th Chief of Clan MacLeod) decided to follow the example of his ancestors who had tried to create a garden at Dunvegan. Since then, the present Chief and Estate Director, Hugh MacLeod and his dedicated team of gardeners, continue to develop and enhance the castle gardens for the enjoyment of both local and international visitors. There has been a significant amount of relandscaping work, planting schemes and new design features including a memorial gazebo, Victorian-style glasshouse, Garden Museum, extensive children’s wild wood play area featuring ‘The Bugvegan Insect Hotel’, and a 2.7-ton rotating marble sculpture christened ‘The Dunvegan Pebble’. The aim has been not only to restore the gardens to their former glory, but to exceed visitors’ expectations, the success of which has been recognised by the judges of the Historic Houses Garden of the Year Award.
Estate Director, Hugh MacLeod said: “When I took over the management of Dunvegan Castle & Gardens in 2008, I didn’t know much about plants or flowers, but I did have a love of gardens and their design. It has been exciting to work with our fantastic team of dedicated gardeners and external contractors on all these major projects to produce the desired ‘wow’ factor, and to continue building on my late father’s horticultural legacy. Forty-five years of investment, effort, sympathetic yet innovative design work and care have made Dunvegan Castle’s gardens what they are today: a continually evolving and beautiful testament to the commitment, skill and vision of all the people involved over the years.
As any gardener would know, a garden does not stand still and our future plans include improved accessibility, new paths and planting schemes, an annual sculpture exhibition, more interactive educational experiences for children, a wildflower meadow and enhanced visitor interpretation. We are proud to have proved the mother of the 23rd Chief wrong when she told Dr Samuel Johnson in 1773 that “there was not and never could be a good garden at Dunvegan”.
Head Gardener at Dunvegan Castle & Gardens, Úna Treanor said: “‘Being shortlisted for this prestigious award is testament to the hard work and dedication of the small gardening team who both develop and maintain the gardens for the public to enjoy. Despite working in changeable and challenging weather conditions, the gardens are an oasis of perennials, shrubs and trees set within the beautiful surroundings of the castle, sea, and wilderness.”
Ben Cowell, Director General at Historic Houses, said: ‘Our Garden of the Year Award showcases the very best in gardening talent from across the UK. It is particularly exciting to see such a strong Scottish presence in the shortlist this year. Blair Castle, Dunvegan Castle & Gardens and Mount Stuart join Hergest Croft and Scampston from England as well as Glenarm, our first-ever shortlisted garden from Northern Ireland. Together, these represent some of the UK’s very finest gardens – and we can’t wait for the votes to start rolling in.’
The Historic Houses Garden of the Year Award 2023 launched on 1 April 2023 with six beautiful gardens competing to be named the Garden of the Year in a public vote. The award, launched in 1984, and run in conjunction with Christie’s auction house, has gone from strength to strength since then, with tens of thousands of votes cast in recent years.
