Gardens: Hatton Castle, Aberdeenshire.

Approached by a drive that winds through mature policies of oak and beech, the turreted Georgian castle, parts of which date from the 1500s, sits in a raised position overlooking the Aberdeenshire countryside a few miles south of Turriff.

It's only when you walk around the exterior of the castle that you see the tree-framed path that leads a quarter of a mile to the north.

David, who inherited Hatton from his great aunt, Lady Duff, in 1970, suggests the walled garden was almost certainly located so far from the house to take advantage of piece of a sloping, southerly ground.

Laid out in the early 1700s, it was later altered to incorporate the burn that runs through the lower half of the site, in the area now devoted to vegetables.

A keen gardener, Lady Duff did much of the planting round the house and in the walled garden. Jayne explains: "Although she had three full-time gardeners she also worked hard. In winter, she often had a hot water bottle strapped round her back to keep her warm."

Following in the footsteps of such a gardening legend was a daunting prospect for Jayne when she moved to Hatton 23 years ago.

With no formal gardening or landscaping experience the project "was a baptism by fire". Later, in order to establish a garden design business, she trained at the English Gardening School in London, but meanwhile, she relied on her interior design skills and her love of fashion to plan the herbaceous borders.

While Lady Duff had favoured a bright tapestry of annuals, including scarlet (Hatton Bedder) begonias, and enjoyed working in her 60m Edwardian rockery, it was time for a rethink.

Starting "rather gingerly" with the assistance and endless encouragement of gardener Robbie Bacon and his wife Anne, it was nonetheless several years before she could see "the big picture.

Quite often this becomes apparent in the winter when the bones of the garden can be clearly seen. At this time you are not distracted by swathes of roses and clumps of peonies," she says.

Thankfully the structure of the garden was there in the shape of a timeless, symmetrical layout of perimeter paths complemented by a central border backed by yew hedges.

These hid two large vegetable plots which have since become lawns, as open space and essential play areas for the couple's two boys.

A crescent-shaped path marked the boundary between the formal herbaceous garden and the vegetables. Inspired by the flourishing structural plants, notably a central yew dome, reputed to date from the Armistice to commemorate the lives of family lost in the First World War, Jayne slowly began adding her own planting, first lining the perimeter paths with low box hedges, grown from one bag of cuttings, and outlining the crescent path with an elegant curve of pleached hornbeams.

The Edwardian rockery, which ran along the top wall by the entrance gate, was replaced "bit by bit" with herbaceous plantings in swathes of pink, blue and white, while the gate was flanked with a pair of formal box parterres.

More recently, five columns of Irish yew were introduced to "give the border more perspective and structure. As you become more confident with plants you begin to use them in a different way. I now feel I have reached the point where I am as interested in the form, texture and structure as in the plants," adds Jayne.

With this experience has come an appreciation of foliage. "I now see the layout as a texture of different greens into which you can introduce some colour."

Drawing on this hard won experience, last year she embarked on a major project to rejuvenate the yew dome, then an unmanageable height of 20ft, which threatened to make pruning impossible.

Jayne says: "We were starting to worry about Robbie scaling the heights of the tree. We set about it with a chainsaw and after much hard family labour and a spectacular bonfire, we created a cloud pruned sculpture, which reveals the tree's strong, deep red trunk."

Other winter beauties "without their clothes on," include the red buds of elegant Cercidiphyllum japonicum and a chunky umbrella of Portuguese laurel, set in a square of box, similar to those at Crathes and Drummond Castles. Throughout the borders Phlomis russeliana is left standing.

South of the yew circle there is a "cheerful, little corner for the winter", with yellow flowered Mahonia 'Charity', daphne hellebores and early snowdrops.

She adds: "When there is not a lot going on in the garden this is a lovely little oasis."

While many gardeners put their vegetable gardens to bed in winter, at Hatton, Jayne ensures there are plenty of structural remains as a foil for the sparkling icicles and waterfalls in the frozen burn.

Rows of plump leeks, tall, sculptural artichokes, curly kale and plumes of black kale take centre stage when outlined in a rim of frost on a sparkly, sunny morning.

The abundance of wildlife that takes advantage of the shelter of the walls adds to the winter charm.

"You open the gate on a sunny morning and it is magical," Jayne says, "All you see is the trail of a cock pheasant's tail following his footsteps. Masses of red squirrels come into the garden to eat the cherries; they line up stones along the top of the wall. Last year the snow was so deep the roe deer came in foraging for food but we didn't mind because they were starving. There are voles around the burn and mice and shrews in the walls. The garden is home to lots of birds."

Despite these joys she hopes, for the sake of some of her more tender plants such as Daphne, Clematis Armandii and Choisya, that this winter won't be so harsh.

The garden is open by arrangement on request. For information about Jayne James Duff Garden Design, e-mail [email protected]

This article was first published in The Scotsman, 11 December, 2010