Cowal
Benmore Botanical Gardens
Cowal is within Argyll the foothills to the Highlands, known for the famous Cowal Highland Games, held in Dunoon Stadium the last weekend in August, it is also home to a favorite haunt of mine Benmore Botanical Gardens part of the RBGE
Other RGBE Gardens included
Benmore Botanical Gardens is part of the Royal Botanical Gardens of Edinburgh, in the Cowal Peninsula, In the 18th Century Benmore was little more than a deer forest Thomas Harkness began to pioneer sheep farming in Cowal, he allowed his sheep to graze on the hills instead of shutting them up for the night in sheep-cotes, amassing a fortune before others began to copy him.
In 1831 Ross Wilson bought the estate from Harkness for £8,000 he built himself a small house with a slate roof next to where the Golden Gates are today, and it was he who planted the Scots Pines and a mixture of hardwoods and conifers on the lower slopes of Cruach, the hill that dominates the garden.
In 1849 John Lamont bought the estate from Wilson and was responsible for building the front of the mansion house, the following year he died, and the estate passed through several hands until 1861 when American Piers Patrick bought it, he was responsible for the bulk of the estate buildings, Patrick's most significant legacy to Benmore was to plant the Redwood Avenue a total of 50 trees.
The estate then passed to James Duncan a sugar broker from Greenock, he installed the Golden Gates which he imported from the Paris Exhibition in 1878, Unfortunately the introduction of a German sugar Bounty, he became bankrupt.
In 1889 Henry John Younger bought Benmore Estate, because of the heavy death duties when younger son Harry most of the house was shut up and staff and staff cut right back. In 1929 Benmore estate became part of the RBGE
This page contains various photos, landscape, wildlife, flowers and buildings, all that you will see in Benmore, still many more to be added, and of the various seasons, there is always something to see no matter the time of year
In 1831 Ross Wilson bought the estate from Harkness for £8,000 he built himself a small house with a slate roof next to where the Golden Gates are today, and it was he who planted the Scots Pines and a mixture of hardwoods and conifers on the lower slopes of Cruach, the hill that dominates the garden.
In 1849 John Lamont bought the estate from Wilson and was responsible for building the front of the mansion house, the following year he died, and the estate passed through several hands until 1861 when American Piers Patrick bought it, he was responsible for the bulk of the estate buildings, Patrick's most significant legacy to Benmore was to plant the Redwood Avenue a total of 50 trees.
The estate then passed to James Duncan a sugar broker from Greenock, he installed the Golden Gates which he imported from the Paris Exhibition in 1878, Unfortunately the introduction of a German sugar Bounty, he became bankrupt.
In 1889 Henry John Younger bought Benmore Estate, because of the heavy death duties when younger son Harry most of the house was shut up and staff and staff cut right back. In 1929 Benmore estate became part of the RBGE
This page contains various photos, landscape, wildlife, flowers and buildings, all that you will see in Benmore, still many more to be added, and of the various seasons, there is always something to see no matter the time of year
RBGE Logan