The site was a barren headland, sheep-grazed, until bought for Osgood Mackenzie by his mother in 1863. They first built a house, with a driveway to it below which was set a curving walled garden created from a former raised beach. There was some initial planting in the early 1860's, but it was probably not until later that decade that widespread planting of a woodland shelter-belt began. From c1890 onwards, major planting of exotic plants - eg rhododendron species then being newly introduced from China/Himalayas - started in clearings created within the developing woodland. Development was continued by Mairi Sawyer, Osgood's daughter. Her two husbands and two sons all pre-deceased her, so in 1952 she finally offered the garden and 2,000 acres of surrounding estate to the National Trust for Scotland, with an endowment and support from the Pilgrim Trust, to ensure its future.