The historic coastal village of Culross in West Fife has many attractions. The privately-owned Dunimarle Castle has only appeared on the tourist radar in recent years, opening for tours of the building and its extensive grounds. A terrace café offers fine views across the Forth estuary. We decided to pop along one afternoon for coffee and cake.
It wasn't our first visit. Just prior to the pandemic, we explored the grounds after reading an article about the 52-acre estate opening its gates to the public. Back then it was a somewhat informal arrangement. A sign at street level asked visitors to telephone live-in caretaker and gardener George Fleming to arrange a tour, or simply catch him as he went about his duties. We wandered in and paid something like £3 each to view the impressive gardens. Venturing inside the building was more expensive. Owner Salim Mohamed - a Surrey businessman who purchased Dunimarle in 2010 - uses the place as an occasional residence and I assume granting public access helped fund George's wages. Fast forward a few years and the castle is now promoted as a wedding venue and filming location. The café trades as The Orangery, with the indoor seating located inside a large conservatory formerly used by owner Magdalene Erskine to grow citrus fruits. Situated on the western fringe of Culross, the castle estate occupies sloping ground overlooking the Firth of Forth. The lower gardens contain St Serf's Chapel, built in Victorian times and used for wedding ceremonies today. It contains mosaic flooring, stained glass windows and vaulted ceilings. We found a free table on the gravelled terrace and enjoyed our refreshments while appreciating the view pictured above. A sign informed customers of staff shortages but it was no hardship to wait a little longer for our order to arrive. I couldn't resist sticking my head into the actual orangery to see the interior architecture. A spiral staircase led to the upper level and the aesthetic is Georgian and Victorian. Truly befitting of its hidden gem status. After settling the bill, we passed through a stone archway and took a stroll along the redwood avenue. Three quarters of a mile long, the pleasant green strip was the original carriage drive leading to the castle. Planted with a mix of giant sequoia and monkey puzzle trees, the avenue also has flourishes of rhododendron and must have been an impressive sight for visitors arriving in days gone by. We walked to the end of the maintained path, where a public core route now cuts across. A farm track continues up to the old Dunimarle North Lodge by the A985.
Sequoia (or redwood) trees are native to the Sierra Nevada mountain range in California but are grown all over the world. They grow to enormous heights but their wood is too brittle for construction, being better suited to the production of fence posts or match sticks. The A-listed Dunimarle Castle was built around 1839, adjacent to the ruins of a medieval building. A small 18th-century mansion house was transformed into the castellated villa we see today. The grounds are included in the Inventory of Gardens and Designed Landscapes in Scotland, which includes over 300 sites across the country. The work was commissioned by Magdalene Erskine, who had inherited the estate. She also authorised the building of the ornate St Serf's Chapel in 1871 to house her own funeral, as you do. Mrs Erskine's marriage to Admiral Kilpatrick Sharpe lasted three days, although she retained the double-barrelled surname. Eventually she turned the castle into a public museum to display her fine art collection. Many of these works are now held at Duff House, Banff - an outpost of the National Galleries of Scotland. We wandered by the wild meadow (planted in 2020) and explored the terrace walk. A lean-to glasshouse survives from the old days. It was a very pleasant experience to stroll around the grounds and a visit is recommended. Unfortunately a week or two later, I read in the local press that the Orangery tearoom had shut its doors permanently. No particular reason was given. Perhaps it just wasn't financially viable. A great shame, as the location really was superb. Castle tours are still available to book on the website however.
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