Greenbank House And Garden

Listed in: Attractions - Gardens and Parks • Attractions - History and Culture

About Greenbank House And Garden

Greenbank Garden is an 18th century house and garden owned and operated by the National Trust for Scotland and open to the public. The A-listed house is situated about 6 miles from Glasgow on the edge of Clarkston. The house has sixteen rooms, barns, stables and a 2.5 acre walled garden.

History
The Georgian house was built in 1763 by a Glasgow merchant by the name of Robert Allason. Allason was a local man who had begun life as a baker, before setting up with his brothers in Port Glasgow as a trader. He made his fortune trading with Britain's American colonies, eventually becoming a land-holder in the Caribbean. The profits from trade in both tobacco and slaves, allowed him to purchase Flenders Farm (land his family had worked for centuries) and establish the house. However, Allason's trading interests later suffered during the American War of Independence.

Over the next two centuries the house had a number of owners until 1962 when it was bought by William Blyth who, with his wife, transformed the grounds from fruit and vegetable growing to the ornamental gardens that are seen today. In 1976, the house, walled garden and estate was gifted to the National Trust for Scotland.

Gardens
One of the great attractions of Greenbank Garden is its layout. The garden is divided into around a dozen different areas, each with its own character, by the skilful use of hedging and tall plants. Each area is completely different from the next and as the seasons change so do some of the flower beds, as they are replanted with seasonal flowers.

The garden has around 3000 different species of flower, though with the changing seasons not all are on show at any one time. Visitors can make use of the large encyclopaedia of plants located in the National Trust tea room which adjoins the gardens to identify some of the more unusual plants.

When the garden was bequeathed to the National Trust by the Blyths they asked that the gardens should be used for educational purposes and as a result much of the planting has been designed to be a source of inspiration to ordinary gardeners who can be inspired to recreate some of the layouts in their own gardens.

In addition to the house and walled garden, visitors can wander round the 16 acres of woodland. These are at their best in the spring when the daffodils and rhododendrons are in bloom.