At home: The 18th-century walled garden at Airlie Castle

AIRLIE Castle sits at the confluence of the River Isla and the Melgum Water in a raised position originally chosen for the natural fortification offered by the steep 400ft drop to the rivers below. Dating from the 16th century with 19th-century additions by David Bryce, the red sandstone castle is reached down a beech-lined avenue that gives way to a drive, which winds past a farm steading and a topiary-filled walled garden before sweeping round to the front of the castle.

It is a traditional setting and one that presented a challenge for the artist Tarka Kings when she married her singer-songwriter husband David Ogilive 19 years ago. When the couple moved to Airlie with their three sons they took over from tenants who had done little to the garden. "We had a small garden in London so I had some experience," Tarka recalls, "but not of anything on that scale. I did find it very daunting at first."

Their first task involved landscaping the area round the castle to improve the setting. Rhododendrons were cut back to let in the light and the verge on both sides of the drive was widened. Herbaceous beds were added to the two lawns within the castle courtyard and a terrace was built for sitting outside.

From the castle it is but a short walk back up the drive to the 18th-century walled garden where four wrought iron gates are set in the centre of each wall. Tarka, whose striking, closely observed pictures of the natural and manmade world feature in collections such as that of the Duke of Devonshire, explains: "We are thinking about the best way to join the castle to the walled garden now that we have cleared the ground in between."

Seen from the lower gate in the north wall, which snaps smartly behind you to keep the rabbits out, the topiary-filled walled garden creates a powerful impact. Here, directly in front of you, a symmetrical layout of paths lined with bold topiary shapes divides the garden into quarters. Rounded cones, birds, balls, cubes and tiered hedges punctuate corners or rise up out of the line of a hedge. On a cold winter morning a coat of frost softens and unifies the shapes, giving them a timeless quality.

Lined with tall, dramatic shapes, the central alle draws your eye up, through the garden, past a sundial, towards a set of stone steps edged with a box parterre culminating in a stately cube surmounted by an umbrella shape. To the west the bare, grey branches of a row of apple trees contrasts with the yew to soften the formal shapes.

"The traditional nature of Airlie is a challenge," Tarka says. "I think the main thing I am trying to do is humanise the garden and make it feel more personal." The old workspace below the walled garden is a case in point. "For example, we are making a smaller garden round the potting sheds." Here a selection of vegetables and herbs are being grown in raised beds enclosed by rabbit-proof netting.

Caretaker Cameron Jolly, whose expertise with a digger was responsible for much of the landscaping round the castle, explains that a metal label found hidden amongst the branches of a yew suggests the layout dates from the 1890s. A fountain inset in the west-facing wall dated 1899 reinforces this theory. Working in partnership with groundsman Gordon Cheyne, he explains that while the castle was let the yew shapes lost some of their precision but this is gradually being remedied. "We are cutting the yew back slowly, a bit at a time; we are reluctant to expose the bare wood but are allowing it to regenerate a bit at a time."

While the two top quarters are laid down to grass – in the quadrant to the east the goal is evidence that the Ogilvie sons enjoy the garden – the lower ones boast a recently installed tennis court laid out in an area surrounded by yew hedges that proved to be just the right size. In summer, herbaceous beds round the perimeter of the garden and in one quadrant take centre stage, while the bed at the foot of the south-facing lower wall is so sheltered that the peach trees espaliered along its walls thrive with just a covering of fleece in the winter months. "The other learning curve for me," Tarka says, "was learning about plants that would survive this climate, which is obviously very different from the south."

In spring, the main entrance to the walled garden is via the laburnum arch that winds its way down the hill to the Upper Walled garden. This partially walled area has recently been enclosed by the addition of beech hedges and boasts an informal feel. Here the grass, punctuated with yew shapes and a pair of stone urns raised on stone plinths, is allowed to remain long and is planted with a succession of spring bulbs ranging from snowdrops to crocuses and low-growing daffodils succeeded by scatterings of wild flowers. "As an artist I am always thinking visually and the garden is a new extension of that, with very different problems to solve from a flat canvas," Tarka concludes. "It is constantly changing over time and is sculptural rather than flat. But the concerns about colour and compositions, and elements of chance versus control all apply to both."

Airlie Castle, Airlie, by Kirriemuir, DD8 5NG is open under Scotland's Gardens Scheme on Sunday 8 August, 2pm-6pm.

Cortachy Castle, by Kirriemuir, the home of Lord Ogilvie's parents, opens under Scotland's Gardens Scheme on Sunday 6 June and Sunday 10 October for autumn colour. For details of estate walks, e-mail [email protected] or visit www.airlieestates.com.

www.tarkakings.com

For anyone planning a garden visit in advance, our featured garden next week, Kevock Garden, will be open Sunday 28 February: Kevock Garden, 16 Kevock Road,

Lasswade EH18 1HT

(0131-454 0660)

This article was originally published in Scotland on Sunday on 21 February 2010