Nestled beneath the Lomond Hills, in Fife, Millfield is very much a family enterprise, and it erupts into glorious colour as October arrives
AUTUMN COMES EARLY to the garden at Millfield, situated on the edge of the village of Falkland, in Fife. And it comes with a blaze of glory. The Lomond Hills rise, with golden larch, above the Georgian house, and rich clusters of red and yellow sorbus berries glow in the arboretum, where orange-tinged Cercidiphyllum japonicum smells of burnt sugar. Rosy apples are ready to harvest in the orchard, while, closer to the house, the woodland borders are ablaze with scarlet cornus stems, claret-coloured euonymus foliage, and rusty-red Hesperantha coccinea. The latter stands out in the herbaceous beds of the Walled Garden, where it combines with Stipa gigantea to produce a brilliant autumnal display.
Surely these golden hills were known to Mary, Queen of Scots, who famously hunted and hawked in Fife when staying at nearby Falkland Palace, built by James IV and Mary’s father, James V of Scotland, in the 16th century. Certainly, it was this romantic setting that attracted Rob and Sarah Marshall to Millfield 12 years ago, when they were planning a move back to Scotland from Ireland.
“The house is on the edge of such a pretty village and within walking distance of shops and pubs. It was also close to my mother,” says Sarah. Aaron, the couple’s youngest son, who, together with his mother transformed the 3-acre plot from an overgrown wilderness into a series of innovative, themed spaces, agrees. “The social aspect of the garden is remarkable,” he says. “On village open garden days, a great team from Falkland Gardening Group gets involved, bringing plants to sell, stewarding, and putting up posters. There is a lovely enclave of keen gardeners in the village.”
Despite the location, the start was far from romantic. The north-facing garden was overgrown with Rhododendron ponticum and cherry laurels. The Victorian Walled Garden behind the house was just a grassy patch, with sheep grazing in the paddock above, and the Cracklin’ Burn that flows down from the Lomond Hills was a muddy ditch. Even with the whole family, including Rob’s two brothers, Tom and Nat, involved, it took a year to clear the site.
Worse, just days before the family were due to move into the house, a flash flood came rushing down the Lomond Hills, across the fields and through the garden towards the house. Emergency drainage had to be dug in the middle of the night to channel the water around the house and down the drive. Remarkably, the ditches dug that worrying night later became the Burn Garden, with the help of Callum Gordon of water garden specialists Splash Gordon.
Working together
Despite her lack of experience of gardening o
