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All year; daily; daylight hours.
Follow the Gruffalo Trail in the Woodland Garden
Ardkinglas House Garden - Private garden, open on selected days or by prior
arrangement. Guided tours are available
By appointment, guided house tours start in April and include access to the house and garden. Every Friday in the month from April - September. Booking essential
April - October
Carpets of bluebells, spectacular rhododendrons, champion trees
Admission Fee £5 per adult, £2 per child (4-16 years) 3 & under Free. £15 per family 2 adults plus children, £9 single parent plus children.
Season ticket £20
House tours - Adult £7.50, School children £3.50; Children under 5 free.
Limited access for the disabled. Shop, refreshments etc. available nearby.
The Gruffalo Trail opening March 2017 Garden tours available if booked in advance. Full tour can take 1-2 hours. Whistle-stop tour of 20 minutes on low-level paths can be more appropriate for parties that include the disabled, or for those who want to see just the highlights of the garden. VisitScotland Three Star grading for gardens.
Cairndow Inn
Loch Fyne Oysters
Cairndow Inn
Inverary - 8 miles
The garden comprises 25 acres of hillside with wonderful views over Loch Fyne in some of Scotland's most spectacular landscape. There are a network of paths rising from the waterfalls of the River Kinglas through the gardens and woodland to the hillside above from which the Loch and its surroundings can be viewed.
With near perfect growing conditions, there are a spectacular collection of rhodendrons, conifers and many other trees and shrubs including the mightiest conifer in Europe and one of the tallest trees in Britain.
Populating the garden are a woodland lochlan, an ancient mill and a numerous and thriving group of red squirrels. There is also a gazebo, built from local Argyll oak, which houses a scriptorium of tree-related poetry and prose to fire the imagination.
In spring and early summer, in addition to the collection of rhododendrons, one of the finest in Britain, which is in bloom at that time, there is a marvellous carpet of bluebells.
Originally planted out in the 18th Century, the Callander family established the mature conifer collection around 1875. The estate was purchased in 1905 by Sir Andrew Noble who in 1920 started to plant what soon became an outstanding collection of rhododendrons. This was augmented fifteen years later by the gift of rhododendrons from his fellow enthusiast, Lord Aberconway at Bodnant. With the help of his son Michael, later Lord Glenkinglas, he took delivery of these plants, which were transported from Wales in two railway carriages and can now be found in the garden upon the aptly-named Bodnant Bank. Lord Glenkinglas and his wife Anne continued to garden at Ardkinglas until the mid-1980s and their influence is noticeable everywhere in the garden.