If your own plot seems a little overwhelming at times, please visit the garden at 2 Durmamuck on the west coast of the Scottish Highlands.
Here Will Soos and Susan Pomeroy have created a simply breathtaking gardenscape of such a scale that it sits in proportion to the mountains and sea loch that frame it.
Just 20-odd miles from Inverewe Garden, the planting at Durnamuck seems to effortlessly overcome the infamous west coast rainfall and ferocious coastal wind, but of course, effort has been giving a helping hand by masterful design.
Will and Susan’s garden expertise, honed at Inverewe Garden where they were both employed, has delivered a garden of international importance in the most unlikely location. Huge borders of tough plants – those able to withstand a wild climate but capitalise on the West Highlands’ mild ‘gulf stream’ temperatures sweep down towards the sea in perfect proportion to their environment. These flow from the intricate planting around the house that has a multitude of rare gems carefully given their ideal habitats in rocky crevices created for them from local stone.
Plants from South Africa and the Mediterranean such as Watsonia and Pallas grow happily here much further north than you would think they might, each revelling in the expertise that provides their ideal conditions. Indeed, I can confidently predict, the multitude of pots in the lee of the house will exhaust your plant finder app.
Wander down towards the sea, you’ll pass apple trees cleverly espaliered against a wire stock fence, a goodly cluck of chickens and eventually the most productive and diversely stocked polytunnels you’re likely to see anywhere, let alone in this remote location. Fruit trees of every description, and tomatoes of every shade offer a tempting harvest. But it may well be time to head for home, because Durnamuck is a not a populated spot – you’ll have a drive ahead of you if you’re not staying in their bothy.
2 Durnamuck has rightly appeared in erudite gardening magazines and hosted a visit from gardening icon Monty Don. In my view it has something more than its peers in this respect. Its location and content has true grit, integrity and majesty. It conveys the achievements of all those over the centuries who have worked in harmony with this land, in all weathers, truly understanding their environment and working with it, to be not just its best but exceptional.
Notes: 2 Durnamuck is open by appointment from the beginning of July through to end of Sept. And open on 3 August from 11am to 4 pm – 2025 under Scotland’s Garden Scheme.
You can also book a stay in its Garden Bothy, set in its own garden overlooking Little Loch Broom and Beinn Ghobhlach.
Visit their website at https://www.2durnamuckgarden.com
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