Arcadia Scotland

As I watch the first signs of seasonal change in my garden (what North Americans may call my back yard) – copper-coloured beech trees dropping leaves, irises and hollyhocks dying back – I reflect on how lucky I am to have direct access to the outdoors.

Restrictions on our outdoor activities this year have reminded us how much being in the natural world bolsters and supports our mental, physical and emotional wellbeing.

Those of you here on study abroad programmes will find Scotland rich in green space. It would be easy to rely on the plentiful city parkland and beaches for your fix of the outdoors, or to assume that the Scottish Highlands are the go-to for scenic spots. I’d urge you, however, to consider a visit to one of our wonderful gardens.

The oldest of Scotland’s Botanic Gardens is the Royal Botanic Garden in Edinburgh, dating back to 1670. While glasshouses remain closed due to the pandemic, the grounds are open and bursting with colour. Throughout Lockdown, teams of gardeners here were allowed to continue their work in order to preserve the collection of plants (over 13,500 species) that have been built up over centuries. Here, there are gardens within gardens, two of which were designed specifically for pause and contemplation.

One of my favourite garden retreats is Dunbar’s Close, a narrow stone through-way on Edinburgh’s Royal Mile. The garden belongs to the city and is free (don’t be put off by the gates), and is a perfect spot to write, read or scoff a sandwich.

St Andrews Botanic Garden was created in 1889 and was originally on a smaller patch – it now stretches to a glorious 18.5 acres, taking in water features and an impressive alpine display.

The Queen Anne Gardens at Stirling Castle may be among the oldest royal lawns in the country, and the carefully tended borders run right up to the wall on the castle’s south side. Talking of walls, our very own Dr Cameron Mackay exposed a stretch of the old city one during his Lockdown project to transform a terraced jungle into a space for growing. (Sadly, this is not open to the public.)

For adventurous garden-seekers, there is Moat Brae in Dumfries and Galloway – the house that inspired JM Barrie in writing Peter Pan, and now Scotland’s National Centre for Children’s Literature. Or, if you were heading to Loch Lomond, you might stop at Queen Elizabeth Forest Park. You’d be in for a treat: mirrorwork there by Rob Mulholland demands that we reflect (quite literally) on humans’ relationship with nature and the wider world around us.

This year I missed my annual visit to a garden near me: Little Sparta was closed due to Covid-19 and opens only in the summer months; but artwork by its former owner Ian Hamilton Finlay can also be found at Jupiter Artland in West Lothian. ‘Jupiter’, as it’s known locally, is 125 acres of sculpture garden and woodland throughout which high-end contemporary art pieces have been installed and even, in the case of American architect and contemporary artist Charles Jenks, carved into the landscape itself.

Jenks’s work also links, conceptually, the two buildings of The Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art in Edinburgh. ‘Landform’ was commissioned in 2001 and brings together garden and sculpture: visitors are invited to walk, sit and think along its grass ledges.

In 2020, a year of uncertainty and disquiet, it would serve anyone well to take a walk here, where Martin Creed’s neon installation against stone frieze assures us that, ‘Everything is Going to Be Alright’.