ALMOST £3,000 has been raised this year by the reopening of the Ascog Hall Victorian fernery on Bute.
The funds will go to charities supported by the Scottish Gardens Scheme.
The fernery and garden were brought back to life after some decline during the Covid pandemic.
Supporters of the award- winning fernery and its enchanting garden had not set a particular fundraising target. Their goal was to have both back in operation and have Ascog “on the gardening map” once again.
Josceline and Jane Wheatley say they have used island trades wherever possible to help in the restoration.
Arborist Stephen Wiseman skilfully removed dangerous trees that were overhanging the rare, sunken fernery originally restored to its former glory by the Fyfe family and reopened to the public in 1997.
Joiner Gary Middleton has hand-crafted new sections for sections of the roof of the glass house.
Help and support with earthworks, machinery and materials has come from Ambriseg Quarry.
Bute’s fernery was reported in an article in The Gardeners’ Chronicle of 1879. It included not only a wonderful description of the place but also a complete inventory of the ferns an invaluable record of the past and a useful guide to future development there.
In 2001, the Historic Gardens Foundation awarded first prize to Ascog Hall Fernery for the restoration of a built structure in a historic park or garden. There were eleven entries in all throughout Scotland. The official presentation took place in the Trade Halls in Glasgow in July that year.
Later, the fernery was featured on television in BBC Gardeners World and also The Beechgrove Garden.
When the Fyfes first stumbled on the ruined structure in 1987, they did not recognise its true nature. It was totally derelict, the roof having all but collapsed and the interior cavity like the basement of an ancient building, was choked with trees and brambles.
Incredibly, one large fern had survived. A huge specimen of Todea Barbara, with a mountainous rhizome (the main underground stem of the plant) about a metre in diameter and three metres high, is still visible today.
This very same fern was said to be “a thousand years old or more” in the Gardeners’ Chronicle article.
The aim is to open the fernery and garden to the public again in the spring of next year.
