House of Dun

One of those days when we had planned to do one thing, but the weather decided we should do something else.  Headed to the coast to explore the Montrose Basin Nature Reserve, when it started raining.  Since most every day's weather forecast is chances of rain and sunshine, we decided to find something else to do during the rain, while waiting for the sun.  A quick look at the map showed House of Dun, belonging to the NTS.  Serendipity is such a lovely thing!

One side of the row of Giant Sequoias.

Walking up to the house we couldn't help but see the 16 Giant Sequoias, no puny boxwood hedge in front of this house!  It's amazing how many of those are in Scotland. They are always breathtaking!

Entrance to house grounds from garden.

To visit the house, we joined in a guided tour with Caroline, who obviously enjoyed her job.  The information was good, layered with little tidbits about the family, politics of the times, and what was happening now at the property.

Perfectly symmetrical Georgian style house.

The house was designed by William Adam in 1730 for David Erskine, Lord Dun. The style is Georgian, making everything a mirror image of the opposite side. Inside there are doors which open to walls, just so the symmetry can be maintained.  The house contains many Royal mementos, as the illegitimate daughter of William IV, Lady Augusta Kennedy-Erskine, was the wife of the second owner.

The box hedge at the back entrance is symmetrical, too.

After the tour, the rain held off long enough for us to visit the walled garden. There were so many roses blooming, their perfume filled the air.  But, it was the perennials that caught our eye.

We have seen these in several gardens, not realizing they opened into sunshine yellow flowers.

Spectacular!

About the time we finished walking around the gardens, the rain started again.  The walk back to our car was a bit damp, only getting heavier as we drove out to the road. We headed back up the coast toward home, not stopping at the reserve. Today was rain, no sun.

Looking toward the house from the walled garden.