New meadow planting is a sensory delight at Brodie Castle

The Brodie Castle estate has always been a popular place to visit whatever the time of year. Daffodils carpet the grounds in spring and in summer the vegetable beds are brimming with healthy, delicious produce. Autumn brings the bountiful apple tree harvest and towards the end of the year the gardens and grounds become a true winter wonderland. Freely accessible, the estate grounds are a great place for family fun and exercise, much welcomed and needed during these ‘different’ times – an added bonus this year will be the new areas of colour and scent to experience along the way.

An area to the east of the castle, running alongside the Victorian shrubbery, will soon be given a seasonal colourful lift with the addition of meadow planting by the gardening team.

The historic ‘avenue’ chosen for this season’s planting is called Cathedral Walk – as it was once lined with mature lime trees which gave the feeling of being in the nave of a grand cathedral as you walked along it. Unfortunately, those trees developed a deadly fungal infection and were removed in 2015. But we have replanted with avenue with young lime trees, which will mature to create the ‘cathedral’ once again in years to come!

Last year we removed some of the turf around the lime trees to create a defined pathway along the avenue. This winter and spring the team began sowing a meadow flower mix which will bring a swathe of colour along either side of the avenue, drawing people towards the sundial at the end next to the old gardener’s bothy.

We first sowed meadow mix around the estate in 2020 during the pandemic and the results were very well received both by visitors and our resident insect population! We’re hoping that creating these meadow beds along the avenue this season will further increase the biodiversity of insects and help in reducing the decline of pollinators around the estate.