Scotand - Dumfries House

From the Dumfries House website (https://dumfries-house.org.uk/about): "Dumfries House is one of Britain's most beautiful stately homes. Set in 2,000 acres of land, this stunning estate and 18th-Century house with its unrivalled collection of original furniture has something for everyone.  Saved by the intervention of His Royal Highness, The Prince Charles, Duke of Rothesay in 2007, Dumfries House combines the neoclassical architecture of Robert Adam with the furniture of Thomas Chippendale and leading 18th-Century Scottish cabinet makers."  My sister saw a program on this house so we added it to our agenda.  Definitely a beautiful estate.

The parking lot was quite a distance from the house which can only be viewed during a scheduled tour. 

While we waited for our tour, we explored the estate.  This is the Avenue Bridge.  The website states that, "This John Adam designed, elliptical bridge was built to give the traveller an early sight of Dumfries House on their approach." 

The gardens are huge.  We walked past this gazebo on our way to the walled gardens.

The walled gardens had a fountain in the center and a large green house.



There were some beautiful ornamental plants and flowers including this orchid in part of the greenhouse with the other part dedicated to edibles

There was also a lower garden where these pot figures cavorted.

Saw this wall in the distance and assumed it was the former entry gate to the property.

The first Monkey Puzzle tree we saw in Scotland.  We saw many of them in gardens and around homes.  Araucaria araucana is an evergreen tree growing 3 to 5 ft in diameter and 100 to 130 ft in height. It is native to central and southern Chile, western Argentina.  It is also the national tree of Chile. Its conservation status was changed to Endangered in 2013.  What's amazing is that the leaves live 40 years and the tree can live for more than 1,000 years.

You know how it is, you see a good climbing tree and you just have to get into it.  The tree is so big you might have to click to enlarge it just to see me.

You might have to go to the website just to see the size of the house.  We weren't allowed to take photos inside.  The house contains almost 10% of the know Chippendale furniture in the world.