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in Stirlingshire.

It’s 22:08 in Stirlingshire.
Stirlingshire

Cowden's Japanese garden and the castle.

Near Dollar, in a hollow at the foot of the Ochils, a Japanese garden of 1908 lies around a still loch, with thatched pavilions, stone lanterns and a zigzag bridge. It was made for the traveller Ella Christie by Taki Handa, and it has been brought back to life since vandals wrecked it in 1963. Watch the koi in the water, then take the woodland walks and the lime avenue. Up on its crag, Stirling Castle has the Queen Anne Garden beside the palace, and views from the ramparts out to the Highlands. Book tickets for the Japanese garden online before you go.

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Did you know20 hours ago

The grandest part of Stirling Castle was built to impress a French queen.

Scotland took up the ideas coming out of Renaissance Europe during the reign of James IV, who spent heavily here to make the place fit for a European monarch, partly to impress his own queen, Margaret Tudor, daughter of Henry VII of England. His son, James V, carried it on for the same reason: the Royal Palace went up around 1540 to impress his second wife, Mary of Guise, who had come from the French court. Their daughter, Mary, Queen of Scots, lived in that palace as a child and was crowned here in 1543.

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Did you know19 hours ago

The Stirling Heads, oak portraits carved for a royal ceiling at Stirling Castle, were scattered in 1777, and most are now back in the castle.

They were carved around 1540, in the reign of James V, each roughly 74 centimetres to a metre across, and show Scottish royals, figures from myth such as Hercules, and Roman emperors. In 1777 the ceiling was taken down, and the heads went to local magistrates and collectors, while some were lost for good. Counts vary, but around 38 are known to survive. Most are now shown in their own gallery on the upper floor of the Palace, and replica carvings, painted from traces of their original colour, were made when the Palace was restored in 2010.

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Did you know17 hours ago

Robert the Bruce pulled down Stirling Castle's own defences, so that nobody could hold it against him again.

The castle guarded the lowest crossing point of the River Forth, which is why it changed hands over and over through the wars with England. Wallace won below it at Stirling Bridge in 1297 and Bruce beat Edward II at Bannockburn in 1314, but taking it and keeping it were not the same thing. So after Bannockburn Bruce had the defences destroyed rather than leave a stronghold for the next English army to walk into. It was not substantially rebuilt until 1336, and then by the English, who had taken it back. Scotland got it again in 1342.

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From our guide16 hours ago

The Pineapple.

Near Airth, a garden summerhouse built in 1761 for the Earl of Dunmore swells at the top into a giant stone pineapple, every leaf carved from sandstone quarried close by. In the 1700s pineapples were a rare luxury, and the hothouses on either side once grew the real thing. The building itself is not open, as the bothies beside it are let as a holiday home by the Landmark Trust. The walled garden and grounds are cared for by the National Trust for Scotland and free to visit. Wander through the orchard of crab apples and into the woods to find the old curling pond.

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Did you know14 hours ago

Scotland's first recorded fireworks were let off at Stirling Castle in 1566.

In 1566 Mary Queen of Scots' own son, the future James VI, was baptised at Stirling Castle. The fireworks display that ended the celebrations was the first recorded use of fireworks in Scotland.

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Did you know13 hours ago

Until the crowns of Scotland and England joined, almost every Scottish monarch had lived at Stirling Castle, been crowned there, or died there.

It is first mentioned around 1110, and it was the preferred residence of most of Scotland's later medieval kings, nearly all of whom added something to it: the King's Old Building for James IV in 1496, the Great Hall around 1503, the Royal Palace for James V around 1540. The greatest celebration of all came in 1566, when Mary, Queen of Scots had her son, the future James VI, baptised here. The fireworks that ended it are the first recorded anywhere in Scotland.

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Garden of the day11 hours ago

Stirling Castle.

The great royal castle on its crag above Stirling, where Mary, Queen of Scots was crowned, with the Great Hall and the Royal Palace.

Read about it
From the magazine8 hours agoThe printed copy of Issue 11Issue 11Autumn / Winter 2025–26

The Pineapple near Airth, a 37-foot stone pineapple on top of a summerhouse, became Scotland's first Landmark Trust property in 1973.

The eccentric 18th-century summerhouse was built for the 4th Earl of Dunmore, and its stonework starts as conventional architraves and grows into shoots that end in prickly leaves. Guests stay in the stone bothies on either side, which once housed the gardeners, with room for four. Behind them is a private garden for guests, with stairs up into the pineapple itself. In front, the magnificent walled garden is looked after by the National Trust for Scotland, and the conservation village of Dunmore is close by for a stroll.

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Did you know7 hours ago

After Bannockburn, Robert the Bruce pulled down the defences of Stirling Castle.

After his victory at Bannockburn, Bruce had the castle's defences destroyed so that the English could never use it again.

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Did you know6 hours ago

The Chapel Royal at Stirling was thrown up in a hurry for one christening.

James VI commissioned it in 1594 for the baptism of his first son, Prince Henry, and it was built in haste to be ready. Three days of celebration followed. Henry never inherited anything: he died before his father did, and the crown went past him. The chapel he was christened in is still standing, and it is the room in this film.

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Did you know4 hours ago

Stirling Castle's Chapel Royal was built in a hurry for the baptism of James VI's first son in 1594.

James VI had the Chapel Royal built in haste for the baptism of his first son, Prince Henry. The celebrations lasted three days. Henry died before he could inherit the crown.

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From our guide3 hours ago

The Japanese Garden at Cowden.

In a sheltered hollow under the Ochils near Dollar, the Japanese Garden at Cowden is a stroll garden around a still loch, with thatched pavilions, stone lanterns and bridges. The traveller Ella Christie made it in 1908 after a journey to Japan, and she asked Taki Handa to design it. Ella called it Sha Raku En, the place of pleasure and delight. Vandals wrecked it in 1963, and it has since been brought back to life under the Japanese designer Professor Masao Fukuhara. Cross the zigzag bridge, watch the koi in the water, then finish with lunch or home baking in the tearoom. Book tickets online before you go.

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