Gardens: Cambo Estate's snowdrop garden extends through 70 acres of woodland

Roughly divided into two parts, the green space consists of the renowned snowdrop garden and a walled garden. The snowdrop garden extends from the house down through 70 acres of woodlands leading to the sea.

Equally magically in summer is the traditional setting of the walled garden where Catherine Erskine has developed a revolutionary plot inspired by Dutch and German naturalistic planting schemes.

But the most remarkable thing about this garden is that when Catherine and her husband Sir Peter Erskine moved back to Cambo from Brazil one cold and wet winter 35 years ago, she knew almost nothing about gardening and certainly had no plans to create a garden that would draw more than 10,000 visitors for snowdrops alone.

"The days were wet and short," she recalls. "It was not until the early snowdrops began to bloom that my spirits lifted."

With a family of four young children to raise she only had time to push prams round the woods while admiring the drifts of white bulbs for which Peter's grandmother Magdalene was responsible.

"There were eight children in the family and she paid them 1d for every thousand snowdrops they split and replanted," Catherine says. "They spent much of their spare time dividing the clumps." It was a legacy that would turn out to be beyond price.

With her own children tied to a busier school schedule, Catherine began working alone in the garden when her youngest daughter Mary, now 25, was born.

"The garden was a great drain on our resources and I wondered if I might be able to sell some of the snowdrops," she recalls. She began splitting clumps of double snowdrops, Galanthus nivalis "Flore Pleno", replanting the smaller bulbs and selling the mature ones.

"Snowdrops are best lifted and divided when they are 'in the green' which means once they have finished flowering and before their leaves die back," she says.

Such was the demand for the bulbs that a business was born. Over the years thousands of snowdrops have been dug up, sold and replanted in this free-draining sandy soil, which suits them so well.

And yet, the carpet stretching back into the woods on both sides of the Cambo burn as it rushes down to the sea is so dense, you would never know.

Best explored by the network of woodland paths that wind and loop through the garden, down the side of the burn, over stone and wooden bridges in a charming voyage of discovery, the garden is a delight. Pools of yellow aconites complement the snowdrops, while scented winter-flowering shrubs, including Christmas box, yellow and orange hamamelis, pink viburnum and honeysuckle lonicera fragrantissima scattered throughout the formal areas close to the house, add to the drama.

Any spare cash was set aside to purchase the specialist bulbs that would eventually expand into a collection of more than 320 different varieties with the slight varied markings that often require an expert to identify them.

"Telling them apart is difficult because the differences are so minute, perhaps down to the size of the flower, the width of the leaves or the green markings inside the flowers," Catherine explains.

The collection is found mostly in the beds round the house and in the woodland garden outside the walled garden, but it is also starting to expand into the newly planted winter garden. Favourites such as Galanthus "Primrose Warburg" are clearly labelled.

"I also like Mrs Macnamara, named for Dylan Thomas's mother, a strong growing G. elwesii, which flowers in early January here and I am very fond of the little yellow-marked Galanthus Sandersii 'Lowick' which we have been growing for several years now and which is proving prolific."

In the walled garden, recently transformed by the naturalistic, prairie-style planting skills of head gardener Elliott Forsyth, grasses and seed heads are left until late February.

"On a frosty day they are sensational," Catherine explains. "I enjoy the pruned rambler roses and the cleared potager beds planted with tulips in anticipation of our Tulip Festival. It feels like the garden is set and ready to go as soon as spring arrives rather than being dead and miserable."

Here, when the herbaceous plants are strimmed back, the bones of the semi-formal layout of paths and beds is revealed as is the central, focal point of the Cambo burn that runs through it on its way to the woodland garden.

Constantly on the alert for innovative ways to showcase the garden, last year Catherine introduced Snowdrops by Starlight. Inspired by the sight of car headlights sweeping over the drifts of snowdrops on both sides of the half-mile-long drive, and the desire to share this striking sight with visitors, the new project has been a study in outdoor lighting.

Developing the concept included illuminating - in a variety of glorious colours - both natural and manmade features including the magnificent, mature trees, the burn, ornamental bridges and a selection of environmental sculptures made from natural and "found" materials.

"This year there will be more woodland art contributed by artists from Heartwood, an exhibition in a Blairgowrie woodland," says Catherine. There will also be input from Will Menter, the composer and visual artist whose sound sculptures and natural pieces have caught Peter and Catherine's imagination. "We also plan to illuminate the Georgian stables," she adds, "their interiors are almost intact and we hope to display some of the less weather-resistant art in there."

Sir Peter and Lady Erskine's Snowdrop Spectacular runs from 1 February-13 March; Snowdrops by Starlight runs from 11-27 February; Cambo House, Kingsbarnes, Fife, KY16 8QD. Gardens are open daily 10am to 5pm. Tel: 01333 450313, www.camboestate.com; www.heartwoodartists.com

This article was first published in The Scotsman, 8 January, 2011