Every time we cycle past Arniston House, I think that one day we should really go in and explore the grounds. At this time of the year it is open to the public on Sundays (also Tuesdays & Wednesdays) so we decided to give it a go.
We entered the estate via the main gate and headed straight for the hall along a very long driveway. The house is impressive in a solid kind of a way, without fancy flourishes but large and imposing and (outwardly at least) in a very good state of repair. Realising as I write this that I lack any kind of expertise in architectural description I have just looked up the Arniston House website for some help, so I can now tell you that it is a Palladian-style mansion house, designed for the Dundas family by William Adam and completed by his son John Adam in the 1750s. A lot of restoration work has been done since the 1950s and is still ongoing. The best view was actually from the rear, as the front view was spoiled somewhat by scaffolding and a disabled ramp.
Arniston House from the rear
After Colette had taken her fill of photos, we then headed north along a track in the direction of the Lion and Elephant Gates. We only got so far before being confronted by high fences and barbed wire. Quite a formidable obstacle and one that we weren’t going to be able to lift the bikes over. So back we went to the house again and continued south from there, following signs for the garden. We must have missed the final sign, as we found ourselves going along towards the lion gates at the southwest edge of the estate. After doubling back, we saw a path leading left across the grass and disappearing into trees. Following that path, we came into the garden area, where we found a great view across to the rear of Arniston House.
By this stage, we were pushing our bikes so we didn’t leave any tyre marks on the grass. A small path led us downwards into the sunken garden, which is mainly grass with some very old yew trees and is bisected by a small meandering stream, where I rested on one of the ornate stone bridges while Colette went off to take photos. We have come across this sunken garden before on walks from Gore Glen, fairly random nose-following affairs; it was good to join up the dots with the rest of the estate. A small waterfall-like feature is hidden underneath the bridge which produced a lively burbling background noise as I waited for Colette to return.
Ornamental bridge in the sunken garden
We then left the garden through a small metal gate and continued by bike along a quite overgrown track. If this part of the estate were cleared, it would be an absolute delight – the path meanders to and fro across the stream (the River South Esk) by means of 3 or 4 more stone bridges. At this time of year, there were lots of nettles and we just couldn’t avoid getting our legs stung as we rode along the path. After a while, we stopped caring!
At one point, there were too many fallen branches lying across the path to safely ride on, so the bikes had to be safely led over before continuing. A while later, Colette stopped, looking concerned and asked “Where’s my camera?”. She had put it back in her camera bag, but the bag was now empty.
We retraced our steps, fearing that we might not find it, but finally Colette spotted it hanging by the strap from a branch. That branch had deftly pickpocketed her as she carried her bike over the difficult section! Relieved, we carried onwards and found ourselves in a meadow with a wide strip of grass cut through the middle. There were signposts with arrows to show us we were following a public path.
The path continued to another bridge across the water, this one a bit more substantial, the river having been augmented by joining with Redside Burn just upstream. At the end of the meadow, we came to a wood and were forced to push the bikes up a steep incline before continuing along the track. We were thankful that it hadn’t rained much recently as this would be very muddy in the wet.
On either side of the narrow path, the nettles and brambles were a good 3 or 4 feet high, brushing into us as we went past. This might explain why we saw nobody else on this part of the track. A couple of fallen trees had to be negotiated before we came to a fast downhill section for a brief adrenalin burst. That took us to another bridge, again bigger and grander than the last, where the path widened and we came across several groups of people out for their Sunday walk.
The odd fallen tree slowed us up a bit
Cycling along these paths was, for us, quite difficult but managable in all but few sections. I chickened out of one tricky-looking steep downhill section fearing that I might buckle my back wheel on landing. I was also afraid of falling off!
We finally emerged from the woods at the small parking area at the north end of Gore Glen and drank lots of water before tackling the steep section of road that stood between us and Carrington. From there it was onto the Temple road, then across Braidwood Bridge, heading back in the direction of Arniston House. At the lion gates, we turned right for the steep uphill taking us home. About halfway up, we heard beeping and were grateful for a stop to chat to neighbour Alison who was going past in her car. A bit further on, we joined up with Alison’s husband Malcolm, who was out on his bike and heading home too.
All in all, it was quite a short trip in terms of miles (15), but I reckon that a mile off-road is worth two on tarmac. Anyway, it was about all we could cope with in the heat, so I quickly grabbed a cold drink and sat down, my outstretched legs tingling like crazy.