Highland single malt Scotch whisky, Fettercairn, has unveiled a garden that pays homage to its Cairngorms home at this year’s RHS Chelsea Flower Show
The Fettercairn Wilderness Retreat is inspired by the Scottish Cairngorms landscape, the home of Fettercairn’s 200-year-old distillery. The balcony garden at RHS Chelsea Flower Show combines structural influences from the distillery with the verdant plants of the Cairngorms to create a place where guests can stop for a dram or a cocktail and enjoy the tranquil surroundings. The spirit of Scotland is echoed in the retreat’s small-scale take on the grassy heathland, rocky outcrops and mossy glens of The North. The garden includes a striking copper bathtub for a cold-water plunge, incorporating the sound of moving water, as well as oak seating that uses wood from the sawmill on Fasque Estate, where the whisky distillery is based.
The planting represents the various plant communities of the Cairngorms wilderness, tolerant of extreme weather conditions, not unlike those experienced on an exposed city balcony. Pinus sylvestris is found throughout the Cairngorm forest and Cytisus grows happily amongst the rocky outcrops. Meanwhile evergreen Erica and hummocks of grasses cover the rolling heathlands.
The innovative garden is designed by ssh scapes‘ Sonia Kamel, Sally Giles and Helier Bowling, who fell in love with the distillery when on holiday. Sally says, “I stumbled upon this distillery on a wind-swept visit to the north of Scotland and was transfixed by the colours, textures and of course, flavours I found there. We started our design with a passion for this Scottish landscape and have used colours reminiscent of the skyscapes, mountains and glens. The balcony garden is designed for a busy professional city dweller, who uses their urban balcony to remind themselves of their trips to the Cairngorms.”
This is the whisky brand’s first sponsored garden at the RHS Chelsea Flower Show but follows a focus on the natural surroundings of the distillery including the The Scottish Oak Programme, which explores the possibilities of using native oak in Scottish whisky production and supports traditional coopering (barrel making) skills. In 2021, the distillery planted 13,000 oak saplings on Fasque Estate, creating Fettercairn Forest. This long-term legacy not only provides a haven for wildlife but will also see the distillery supplied with oak for its casks – albeit not for some further hundred years.
Lucy Joss is UK Brand Manager and explains that the Cairngorms distillery is located in what’s often called the Garden of Scotland and this partnership for the RHS Chelsea Flower Show is a celebration of that. “We have a 200-year-old history of flavour-led innovation and this is something that comes across in this striking garden,” Lucy continues.
After the show, the Fettercairn Wilderness Retreat will be relocated to the distillery in the Cairngorms in a new planting scheme designed especially by Sonia, Sally and Helier. “We look forward to seeing visitors enjoying the show but also to welcoming it to the distillery itself, where it will sit alongside our newly planted Fettercairn Forest of Oaks.”
The RHS Chelsea Flower Show takes place from 20th to 24th May in the grounds of the Royal Hospital Chelsea. The Fettercairn Wilderness Retreat can be found at site number SE802.
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