Sundial, Walled Kitchen Garden, Kailzie House

Sundial, Walled Kitchen Garden, Kailzie House

This is a substantial walled kitchen garden dating from 1811, with later 19th century additions and alterations. The complex comprises a rectangular-plan enclosure with canted corners to the south-west and south-east, constructed in random whinstone rubble with narrow ashlar copes and droved ashlar dressings featuring projecting margins. Several sections are harled and painted, with some brick used in later work.

The north elevation contains the principal features: a long, symmetrical five-section glasshouse range of Regency style, designed by the architectural firm Mackenzie & Moncur in the late 19th century. The range comprises a slightly projecting gabled planthouse at its centre with a semi-glazed timber entrance door, flanked by vineries of similar height and style, with lower peach house sections to the outer bays. A later glasshouse adjoins to the left. Chimney stacks from the heated wall and glasshouses rise from the wallhead.

To the left of this glasshouse range stands a three-bay, one-and-a-half-storey rectangular-plan picturesque gardener's house, with a principal north-west elevation featuring a central panelled timber entrance door with a rectangular glazed fanlight, surmounted by a timber bracketed canopy with a slated pitched roof. Flanking windows appear on either side. The upper storey is lit by a pair of flush gabled timber dormers with projecting verges and apex finials. To its left return is a lean-to structure with projecting verges and a front window fitted with curved wrought-iron security bars. A wrought-iron gate adjoins, forming a pair of entrance gates. The harled right return features a single-storey range with paired windows to the left, a near-central timber door, and two widely spaced windows to the right.

The gardener's house has a rear south-east elevation where two-storey and single-storey extensions form an L-plan; the single-storey section is incorporated into the earlier garden wall. The fenestration throughout is regular and modern. Windows in the main house and range feature 10 and 12-pane glazing in timber sash and case frames, with 4-pane casement windows to the dormers and 9-pane windows to the range; the later extension has modern glazing. Roofing is of piended grey slate with slate-checked dormers; the main roof features lead ridging with terracotta ridging and stalked ball finials to the dormers. The single-storey range has a piended and platformed roof with swept eaves. A high ashlar chimney stack with projecting ashlar neck copes and four plain terracotta cans rises from the central roofline. Cast-iron and replacement rainwater goods are present throughout.

The east elevation is largely concealed by a beech hedge and presents a plain wall; a single-storey extension of the garden house adjoins to the right, with the interior elevation of the wall broken by later fenestration and a doorway. To the left, the wall advances south-east before canting sharply to the south-west, with angle buttresses providing structural support.

The south (formal) elevation displays a high wall with flat copes and shared angle buttresses. A small central entrance doorway with droved tails and projecting polished margins is fitted with a wrought-iron gate. The west elevation is similar to the south, with an additional entrance to the left. An additional curved wall adjoins to the extreme left with a garden store to its rear.

The gardener's house was in residential use at the time of listing in 2002.

The sundial, dated 1811, stands within the garden. It comprises an octagonal ashlar base supporting a polished ashlar baluster-shaped classical shaft topped with a decorative cornice featuring primarily acanthus detail, egg and dart moulding, carved lozenges and roses. The copper dial and gnomon were made by Alexander Adie of Edinburgh, the renowned optician and maker of the Camera Obscura installed in the Edinburgh Observatory.

The gates and railings are of plain painted wrought iron. Plain barred gates and railings run along the south side of the walled garden, whilst decorative painted wrought-iron gates to the south-east and south-west walls feature alternate plain and scrolled arrowhead tips.