Scotland Scone Palace Event

The first of this year’s AGM’s will be taking place in Scotland and this year we have decided to host this at the prestigious Scone Palace.

By the time we visit the palace will have just celebrated its 60th anniversary spanning from 1966-2026.

The Palace is also home Scotland’s National Garden Show. Each year as part of the show they hold the Scottish Garden Design Competition which showcases the best of garden design and landscaping. This is a great opportunity for delegates to enter as a small space garden or showcase garden.

If you have never visited or not for some time this will be an exclusive opportunity to explore the abundance of woodland gardens including previous show gardens as well as the walled & kitchen garden.

Book your ticket soon to attend this fantastic event and we look forward to seeing you on the day.

On the day

• 10:15am Welcome, refreshments
• 10:45am AGM, Member Benefits & CEO Wayne Grills BALI update
• 12:00pm Lunch
• 12.45pm Garden Tour, Brian Cunningham
• 2:30pm Finish

Scone Palace Gardens

In the Walled & Kitchen Garden, herbs are planted for their colour and scent as companions to the vegetables, which are consumed year-round in the Palace coffee shop.
Sweet Peas, Aquilegia and Dianthus are among the cut flowers also grown here for seasonal displays in the palace.

The high brick wall beyond the Kitchen Garden encloses the four-acre Victorian Walled Garden, currently under redevelopment. It was designed by the palace architect, William Atkinson, who built coal-fired heating ducts into the north wall. In cold weather these were tended overnight by the apprentice gardeners living in the cottage nearby.

The Scone Pinetum is of international interest, and they work closely with the Royal Botanical Gardens in Edinburgh. A recently created memorial walk around the Pinetum leads past the eleven oak trees planted to commemorate the lives of the eleven estate foresters and gardeners lost in World War I.

The Victorian Pinetum is home to many rare species, including three families of giants, the Hemlocks, the Noble Firs and the Sequoias. To saunter down their avenues is to feel dwarfed by these prodigies of nature.

Scone Palace

Scone Palace breathes history like nowhere else in Scotland. Today it is home to the Earls of Mansfield. Fifteen hundred years ago it was the capital of the Pictish kingdom. Visit today to experience these centuries of history for yourself.

In more recent times, in 1803, the 3rd Earl of Mansfield began rebuilding the medieval house as a gothic palace. It was here, in 1842, that the 4th Earl and his family entertained Queen Victoria on her way to the Highlands. Since then, Scone has been visited by the late Queen Elizabeth, the Queen Mother, who was a childhood
friend of the late Earl of Mansfield; her daughter, Queen Elizabeth II; and the Emperor of Japan.

The Mansfield family continue to live here today, preserving the Palace of Scone and its surrounding estate as a unique living testament to Scotland’s heritage.

Brian Cunningham, Head Gardener

Brian is a knowledgeable gardener with over thirty years horticultural experience.

Today he manages the vast designed landscaped gardens and grounds at Scone Palace. Since joining in 2012 his work has included a variety of gardening projects which he and his team have worked on. These include reinstating the Kitchen Garden and telling the story of David Douglas.

Brian’s main role at Scone Palace today is overseeing its walled garden revival, featuring a formal garden, topiary, orchards, cut flowers and a plant nursery. He is also developing Scone’s role in the community, providing practical classes, garden workshops and a place to buy locally grown produce.

Alongside his work at Scone Palace, he also regularly contributes to the BBC Beechgrove Garden television programme and writes weekly columns for The Courier & Press and Journal newspapers.