Garden Cottage And Walled Garden, Lotus House

The site comprises a walled garden, largely built in the first half of the 19th century, incorporating a garden cottage at the east end and a stable range at the west end, now converted into Stables Cottage. The garden and buildings are constructed of rubble with ashlar dressings, and have slated roofs.

The walled garden has an unusual, roughly keyholed shape, with ashlar-coped walls. It is entered from the north and south walls with steps and serpentine quadrants at the east end, near the garden cottage.

Garden Cottage faces east and is curved, following the line of the garden wall. The main eaves line is full-height with the garden wall. It is a single-story building with an attic, featuring three bays. A central door is topped with a fanlight, and a swept-roofed dormer sits above. The outer bays have gabled dormers with cills that break through the eaves. The windows are sash windows. Straight skews and end stacks are present. Two original flanking bays were demolished, and symmetrical low wings were added, along with alterations to the rear elevation, circa 1987 by A C Wolffe.

The stable ranges are built around a courtyard. The east range is now a two-story house; its west-facing elevation to the courtyard has been significantly altered with inserted tripartite windows and a small-pane glazing pattern. The detached ranges run parallel, with piended roofs at the east end. The north range, built of cherry-caulked rubble, is a tall barn with slit ventilators at the west end and square-headed openings. The south range, originally kennels, has a plain north wall facing the courtyard, and bays with stone piers running the length of the south wall.

The site technically lies within the New Abbey parish, in the Nithsdale district, as the parish boundary runs north-south, bisecting the walled garden. The site forms a group of buildings with Lotus House.