The Adams designed country house of Newliston is home to a fabulous designed landscape, covering many acres it is home to some wonderful trees, some amazing viewpoints, a a few 300+ year old chestnuts, a wonderful walled garden, swans and a super railway!
Newliston is famed for its Rhododendrons, but it was the parkland and the walled garden which I had come to see, now the walled garden is no longer in productive use but the brickwork of the walls and the sundial in the middle are a joy to behold. You can get a sense of the former productive nature of the garden with the few trained apple trees which remain.
Details on Historic Scotlands Inventory of historical gardens
The Parkland itself is in good order, with a super network of paths. I spent 4 hours exploring and walking the Ha-Ha’s around the garden boundary.
The garden has some open days in the spring and details of this can be found here.
Gareth Austin is a Community focused Horticulturist based in Derry-Londonderry and voice of Gardening on the Mark Patterson Show on BBC Radio Foyle. Gareth specialises in Community horticulture, offering a wide range of events, programmes and acitivity on engaging people in the exciting world of Horticulture. Gareth lectures in Horticulture in the North West Regional College and offers school horticulture programs through the Western Education + Library Board. Gareth is passionate about changing land-use to a more positive use, urban food production and showcasing the flora of county Derry through the City of Horti-Culture programme of events.
