Winton Spring Gardens Open Day

Winton Castle’s fund-raising, Spring Gardens Open Day is on Sunday 26 March (12 – 4.30 pm) and families and garden lovers are all invited.

Winton Castle, an acclaimed events, weddings and activities venue, has opened its gardens since 1931 through Scotland’s Garden Scheme, longer than any other Scottish garden. You’ll be able to see the wild gardens round the castle awash with daffodils, and the ornate walled garden and terraced gardens decked out with colourful spring flowers.

Profits from the Spring Open Day will be going to East Lothian Foodbank and Scotland’s Garden Scheme charities.

As always, there will be lots of family entertainment on the day, including:

John Muir Alpacas, an Easter egg hunt and treasure trail.
Axe throwing, archery and an obstacle course.
Delicious fare from the Winton tearoom, Luca’s Ice Cream van and visiting food vans.
Winton Brewery with their vintage van, Rosie.
Garden crafts for adults and kids, with sow-your-own sunflower workshops.
Guided garden tours (at 1pm & 3pm) and Scottish Renaissance castle tours.

Erika Haeggman, the Head Gardener who joined Winton’s team last spring, will be leading the garden tours:

“We’ll show visitors round Winton’s walled garden, with its mix of formal and informal areas. You’ll also see the triple-tiered terraced gardens leading down to Sir David’s Loch, and the woodland dell with rhododendrons. Visitors will be able to enjoy our wisteria pergola, hellibores, flowering magnolias, tulips and the sea of yellow daffodils, although it’s still quite early in the season.

“Recent winter projects have included splitting and replanting geraniums, irises, ornamental grasses, astrantias and many other plants. Tender plants like salvias and pelargoniums are grown in our greenhouse and polytunnel.

“Winton’s offers outdoor wedding ceremonies in the gardens, so we want visitors to feel awe and excitement as soon as they drive through the gates. The gardens are the foreground to the castle, adding magic to visitors’ experiences. This is already reflected in Winton’s reviews: ‘simply incredible grounds’, ‘immaculate gardens’, ‘beautiful grounds’ and ‘brilliant location for wonderful photos’.

“Flowers and foliage have already been planted in the middle terrace for cut flowers in the castle for weddings and parties.

“We’re also going to plant a herb garden in the walled garden with mints, basil, oregano and chives for cocktail making and garnishes for our caterers.”

Erika concludes: “I enjoy working at Winton because there’s such a wide variety in the gardens and I have a lot of creative freedom. And, of course, the lovely setting!”

The team at Winton looks forward to welcoming you to Winton on Sunday 26th of March 2023 (12 noon – 4.30 pm).

For the first time, you can pre-book the castle tours and admission to the gardens on Winton’s website although you can also still pay on the day on arrival, as usual. The guided garden tours start at 1pm and 3pm (not pre-bookable).