Gordon Castle Walled Garden

Gordon Castle is the “spiritual home” of the Gordon Clan and has significant historical importance in Scotland, but also to everyone in the world called Gordon.
We also have a very special Walled Garden. The garden, at 8 acres probably the largest productive walled kitchen garden in the country, had fallen into disrepair. However, it had been kept weed free and the two hundred and forty nine espaliered apple, plum, pear, peach, apricot, nectarine and fig trees around the walls had been well kept for many years by ex-head gardener Willie Robertson, a true expert having worked in the garden since 1946. The buildings were also ancient and had fallen into disrepair and needed restoration.
So we decided to combine the redevelopment of the Walled Garden with the launch of our product range and the Gordon Castle Scotland brand. The garden itself was an awkward size at 8 acres: Too big for the needs of the Castle, but not big enough to be commercially viable in a modern world. We decided to turn it into a productive space of beauty, education and heritage capable of supplying the ingredients for all our products and for a shop and restaurant.
Given that the story of the products is all about the place, provenance and being natural we thought that people would like to visit our garden and whilst there would like to sample the fresh produce straight from the garden.
So we had the garden designed with a modern twist on the traditional kitchen garden by multi award-winning garden designer Arne Maynard. A network of paths and beds have already been built and planted, together with an outside performance stage and children’s play area.
Our café is a “new build” designed by award winning architect Craig Hamilton. Delightful and delicious seasonal Scottish dishes are prepared with care and plenty of flair using the finest local ingredients, so fresh you may see some being picked from our Garden before they reach your plate. Guests can enjoy coffee, a homemade lunch, afternoon tea, or a top notch dinner, whilst watching the garden grow from the restaurant’s ceiling to floor windows. “Plant, Pick, Plate” is our motto.