Summerhouse, Ayton Castle

The Walled Garden at Ayton Castle dates from the 19th century and features later additions and alterations. It is located to the southwest of Ayton Castle on a hillside that slopes steeply to the south. The garden is open to the southeast and is enclosed by tall, coped walls on the remaining sides to the southwest, northwest, and northeast. The outer elevations are primarily made of harl-pointed sandstone rubble, with red-brick inner linings that are partly rendered, and tooled cream sandstone dressings.

The garden includes three tiered terraces, each approximately 80 feet wide, which are set at the upper level and feature balustered sandstone walls at the front, although these are obscured by overgrowth. Sandstone stairs, each about 10 feet wide, connect each terrace, and squat, panelled, corniced sandstone piers flank the base of each stair. There are various boarded timber doors in segmental-arched and square-headed openings that provide access to the garden. Greenhouses that originally adjoined the inner elevation of the northwest wall were removed in 1938.

Adjoining the outer elevation of the northwest wall are a range of single-storey, lean-to potting sheds constructed from whin and sandstone rubble, with stugged red sandstone dressings. These sheds have boarded timber doors and feature 4-pane glazing in timber sash and case windows, all topped with grey slate roofs. The interiors of the sheds were not seen in 1998.

Additionally, there is a two-stage, octagonal-plan summerhouse set into the northeast wall, which has a blind elevation to the northeast and an arcaded elevation to the southwest. The summerhouse is built from tooled cream sandstone rubble in the tall, battered first stage and coursed ashlar in the upper stage, with ashlar dressings. It features a moulded eaves course, corniced eaves, and a plain parapet. The southwest elevation has three segmental-arched openings leading into the interior, which has boarded timber walls and plain timber benches. The summerhouse is topped with a tapering octagonal grey slate cap that has banded fishscale detailing and a surmounting finial.