Drum Castle Garden: Historic Walled Garden and Trails

When you walk through the iron gates of Drum Castle Garden, you’re not just stepping into a garden-you’re walking into a story that’s been growing for over 600 years. Nestled in the rolling hills of Aberdeenshire, just a short drive from Dundee, this isn’t your average public garden. It’s a living archive of Scottish horticulture, military history, and quiet resilience. The walled garden, built in the 17th century, still grows the same fruit trees and vegetables that fed the Drum family and their servants. The paths winding through it don’t just lead to roses or rhododendrons-they lead back to the 1600s.

The Walled Garden: A Time Capsule in Brick and Soil

The walls of Drum Castle Garden aren’t just decorative. They’re functional. Built from local sandstone, they rise nearly three meters high, trapping heat and shielding delicate plants from the North Sea winds. Inside, you’ll find fruit trees trained against the walls-pears, apples, and plums-pruned in the classic espalier style that was common among Scottish landowners in the 1700s. These aren’t ornamental trees. They’re productive. The garden still produces fruit used in the castle’s kitchen, just as it did when the Drums were raising their children here.

Look closely at the soil. It’s not just dirt. It’s a carefully layered mix of manure, seaweed, and ash-ingredients used by 18th-century gardeners to enrich the ground without modern fertilizers. The gardeners today still follow the same seasonal schedule: planting bulbs in October, pruning fruit trees in January, and harvesting potatoes in September. There’s no digital timer here. No automated irrigation. Just hands, hoes, and history.

The Trails: Forest Paths That Remember the Past

Beyond the walls, the garden opens into over 10 kilometers of woodland trails. These aren’t manicured walking paths meant for strollers. These are old deer tracks turned into footpaths, lined with ancient oaks, birch, and hazel. Some trails were once used by the Drum family for hunting. Others led to hidden stone shelters where gamekeepers once waited for foxes or deer.

One trail, marked only by a worn wooden sign, leads to the ruins of a 19th-century ice house. It’s not much to look at now-a sunken stone chamber covered in moss-but back then, it was vital. Ice was cut from the nearby loch in winter, stored here under layers of straw, and used to keep food cool all summer. You can still see the original drainage channels carved into the rock.

Another path takes you past the remains of a Victorian glasshouse, its broken panes now home to nesting sparrows. The glasshouse once grew exotic plants like pineapples and bananas-luxuries brought in by wealthy landowners who wanted to show off their wealth. Today, it’s a quiet place where the only sounds are the wind and the occasional rustle of a red squirrel.

Seasons at Drum Castle Garden

What you see at Drum Castle Garden changes dramatically with the seasons. In April, the walled garden explodes into color. Daffodils line every path, and the old apple trees bloom in soft pink and white. By May, the rhododendrons burst into purple and crimson, their thick leaves hiding the stone benches where visitors still sit and read.

Summer brings the scent of roses-over 150 varieties, many of them heirloom types no longer sold in nurseries. The gardeners keep seeds from the best blooms each year, replanting them in the same beds. One rose, called ‘Drum’s Pride,’ was bred right here in the 1920s and still thrives today.

Autumn is when the garden feels most alive. The leaves turn gold and rust, and the scent of ripe apples fills the air. The harvest festival, held every October, draws locals who come to press cider and bake pies using fruit picked that morning. In winter, the garden sleeps-but not quietly. The walls still hold warmth. The holly berries glow red against the snow. And if you walk the trails at dawn, you might see deer stepping softly through the mist.

Why Drum Castle Garden Stands Out

There are plenty of gardens in Scotland. But few have kept their original purpose so faithfully. At Kew or Edinburgh’s Royal Botanic Garden, plants are curated for science and display. At Drum Castle, plants are grown for survival, tradition, and memory.

It’s also one of the few walled gardens in Scotland that still uses its original tools. You’ll find hand-forged trowels, wooden rakes, and brass watering cans-some over 100 years old-on display in the gardener’s shed. The current head gardener, a woman who grew up in the village nearby, learned her craft from her grandmother, who worked here in the 1950s. She doesn’t just know how to prune a plum tree. She knows why it was pruned that way in 1847.

The castle itself, a 14th-century tower house, is open to visitors, but most people come for the garden. And they leave with more than photos. They leave with a sense of continuity. This isn’t a museum. It’s a working landscape. The soil remembers. The trees remember. The people who walk here now? They’re just the latest chapter.

Visiting Drum Castle Garden

You don’t need a tour. You don’t need a guide. The garden is designed to be explored at your own pace. Open daily from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. (last entry 4 p.m.), April through October. Winter visits are by appointment only-call ahead if you want to walk the trails in snow.

Admission is £12 for adults, £6 for children under 16. Under-fives get in free. There’s no parking fee. The car park is a grassy field, just past the old stable block. Bring sturdy shoes. The trails are uneven. The ground can be muddy after rain.

There’s a small tearoom in the old kitchen garden, serving tea, scones, and soup made with vegetables grown on-site. They don’t sell ice cream. They don’t sell souvenirs. They do sell seed packets of heirloom vegetables-carrots, kale, and turnips-that you can grow at home.

What to Bring and What to Skip

• Bring: A notebook, a camera with a zoom lens, waterproof boots, and a thermos of tea.
• Bring: A copy of the free trail map-available at the gate. It shows hidden benches, old wells, and the best spots to watch birds.
• Don’t bring: Dogs. They’re not allowed in the walled garden or on the woodland trails. (Service animals are permitted.)
• Don’t bring: Loud music, drones, or bikes. This isn’t a park. It’s a place to listen.

How to Get There

Drum Castle is located near the village of Drumoak, about 15 miles northwest of Aberdeen. From Dundee, take the A90 north to the A947, then follow signs for Drumoak. The drive takes about 45 minutes. There’s no public transport directly to the gate, but local taxis from Aberdeen or Dundee can be arranged in advance.

If you’re staying overnight, the nearby village of Insch has a handful of B&Bs with rooms that overlook the garden. Book early-many guests come just for the sunrise walks.

Why This Garden Matters

Most gardens today are about beauty. Drum Castle Garden is about endurance. It survived wars, famines, and decades of neglect. When the family left the castle in the 1940s, the garden was nearly lost. A group of local volunteers saved it-digging out ivy, repairing walls, planting seeds from old records. They didn’t restore it to look pretty. They restored it to work.

That’s rare. In a world where everything is replaced, upgraded, or deleted, Drum Castle Garden still grows the same way it always has. The apples are still picked by hand. The paths are still worn by the same footsteps. And if you sit quietly on one of those stone benches, you might hear the echo of someone else doing the same thing-300 years ago.

If you’ve ever wondered what a living history looks like, Drum Castle Garden is your answer. It doesn’t shout. It doesn’t need to. It just grows.