Falkland Palace Victorian Glasshouse

Falkland, in Fife, was a hunting residence of the Stuarts before it fell into ruin in the late seventeenth century. In 1887 John Crichton-Stuart, 3rd Marquess of Bute, bought the estate, palace included, and began a restoration lasting some twenty years. The garden glasshouse belongs to that period: according to the National Trust for Scotland, Mackenzie & Moncur, glasshouse and heating engineers of Edinburgh active from 1868 to 1998, designed and built it in the 1890s for the Marquess. Wikipedia gives 1890 and adds that it was used mainly for flowers and exotic plants, at a time when people travelled to bring them back; the article also mentions evidence of a second glasshouse nearby.

The present garden dates from after the war: Michael Crichton-Stuart and his wife Barbara called in the landscape designer Percy Cane in 1947 to replace the wartime potato field, and the National Trust for Scotland became Deputy Keeper of the palace in 1952. The glasshouse was, the Trust says, very much Barbara's domain; she was fond of pelargoniums. The Trust notes that it was rebuilt in 1985, and its reopening post recalls that it has been substantially renewed several times in its history.

The latest renovation kept it closed for more than two years: new glass, putty and paintwork, Douglas fir timber, masonry repairs and a new heating system. Local joiners did most of the timberwork, retaining, the Trust says, the character and proportions of the building.

It is known that Mackenzie & Moncur, an Edinburgh firm specialising in glasshouses and their heating, designed and built the glasshouse, and that the recent renovation renewed the glass, putty, paintwork and timber (Douglas fir), repaired the masonry and installed heating that holds the temperature around 10 °C in winter.

On OpenStreetMap, a building tagged 'greenhouse' and named 'Glasshouse' stands in the garden, about 120 m north of the palace.

According to the National Trust for Scotland, the glasshouse holds the most comprehensive collection of pelargoniums in Scotland, with more than 180 species and cultivars. Among them the red 'Mrs Morris', planted by Jenkin in 1948, is still growing. The pelargoniums remain the heart of the collection, but the gardeners are opening a new chapter by introducing plants from southern and south-eastern Africa: succulents, cacti and coleus with vivid foliage. The Trust hopes to see the collection develop over the seasons.

The new heating keeps the house at around 10 °C in winter, which allows tender plants to be kept. Around the glasshouse, Percy Cane's garden unfolds its herbaceous borders, orchard and wildflower meadow, and the palace shop sells plants grown on site.

The glasshouse stands in the palace garden, which is entered through the shop, a short walk from the main gate. According to the Trust's post, it is entered as part of the garden visit. The garden is open for most of the year and the palace from March to October.

The ticket covers palace and garden: the palace and its Chapel Royal (the King's and Queen's apartments were closed for works at the time of consultation), the sixteenth-century royal tennis court, the orchard and wildflower meadow, the physic garden and the living willow labyrinth. The village of Falkland, with its cafés and tea rooms, is next door, and Fife has other Trust gardens nearby, such as Kellie Castle or Hill of Tarvit.