Teasses
Ceres, Fife KY8 5PG
Why We Should Visit
The gardens at Teasses are some of the finest to have been created in Scotland in the last 20 years, but they have only recently been open to the public so few people have yet discovered them. What visitors get are all the elements of a grand estate garden, updated for the 21st century, with woodlands, a walled garden and some of the finest herbaceous plantings in the country.
The Teasses estate lies deep within the Fife countryside, and finding the gardens involves navigating a maze of unclassified roads, but the journey is definitely worth the effort.
Story of the Garden
The Teasses estate has a long and exciting history. There’s evidence of neolithic activity; during the 16th century the lands were the property of famous privateer, Admiral Sir Andrew Barton and a later landlord, Norman Leslie, was charged as lead conspirator in the murder of Cardinal Beaton at St Andrews castle. When the Morrison family took ownership in 1996 the estate and its Victorian mansion had fallen into disrepair and they embarked on an ambitious programme of refurbishment.
Highlights
Huge drifts of perennials, including Campanula lactiflora and Allium cernuum, occupy the space directly in front of Teasses House. Blocks of plants occupy concentric, wing-shaped curves, all of them set at a lower level to the house so that visitors have the experience of walking through a flower-filled ravine. From the terrace there’s a view southwards towards Edinburgh while dense plantings of conifers and sycamores behind the house provide shelter from wind.
Don’t Miss
The huge and productive walled garden is the engine room of the gardens at Teasses. It has been returned to full production and the Victorian-style glasshouses have been reinstated, allowing for peaches and nectarines to ripen against its walls.
Around it lie acres of woodlands that in spring are carpeted with wild primroses, daffodils and bluebells, with camellias and rhododendrons providing even more colour.
Anything Else to Look Out For
The rose garden has been planted up with old English roses, which fill the air in June with their heavy, sweet perfume.
Water lilies float on the surface of the pond and irises grow in the damp soil around its edges.
Best Time To Visit
The woodlands at Teasses are strewn with snowdrops and on Sunday, February 27, visitors can book a place on one of two candlelight walks through the estate’s 60 acres of gardens and woods, followed by refreshments in the restored greenhouses.
Any Recommendations In The Area?
Craigtoun Country Park near St Andrews is a popular family destination, with rowing boats, miniature train rides and crazy golf set within 47 acres of gardens and designed landscape.
Directions:
Teasses estate is six miles north of Leven and two miles east of the A916.
Details:
The gardens are open from February until October, every Wednesday and on the first full weekend of every month. £6.50/free (under 16s)
The Scottish Snowdrop Festival is underway from now until March 11. Dozens of gardens, woodlands and estates will be inviting visitors to enjoy sheets of white flowers and collections of special varieties of mid-winter’s loveliest bloom.
Scotland’s damp climate offers the ideal conditions for snowdrops to flourish. Since it was launched more than a decade ago, the festival has grown to include National Trust properties and private gardens that open for charity.
What they all share is spectacular displays of snowdrops, either spread across acres of woodland or in pristine collections of unusual varieties that have taken many years and specialist knowledge to find and cultivate to perfection.
Amongst those taking part this year is Logan Botanic Garden near Stranraer, which will be holding out-of-season openings on every Sunday in February to show off the swathes of snowdrops that grow across Scotland’s most tropical garden.
Throughout February and March Dawyck Botanic Gardens will be offering Sunday snowdrop walks with a garden guide, while at Kailzie Gardens in Peebles, visitors can follow 15 acres of woodland walks carpeted with snowdrops. Kailzie is open six days a week.
The Scottish Snowdrop Festival is organised by Discover Scottish Gardens. For info
www.discoverscottish gardens.org/snowdropfestival and from www.visitscotland.com/snowdrops. For a list of gardens opening for Scotland’s Gardens Scheme visit www.scotlandsgardens.org.
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules here