‘Ghost garden’ at historic castle in Scotland stuns owners after emerging during heatwave

A “ghost garden” at a historic castle has emerged due to the recent heatwave. The amazing discovery was made at Inveraray Castle, Inveraray, Argyll and Bute.

The current owners had never seen the pattern on the formal lawns before. It was part of the designed landscape of Argyll Estates and Inveraray and was found in archives as far back as 1871.

Owner Torquhil Argyll, 55, first saw the design about a week ago. The castle dates from 1533 but it isn’t clear when the hidden gardens were from.

Dad-of-three Torquhil said: “It came out about a week ago. We knew where it was and had seen little bits before but hadn’t seen it so clearly.

“It’s very visible. We were looking at an ordinance survey map from 1871, we need to do more research.

“We don’t know when it was redesigned. It tallies up with the 1871 map.

“There’s something underneath there which means it dries out a lot. We are not going to reinstate it.

“There’s lots of other houses and gardens that have old gardens covered by grass, that have something very similar.

“You don’t get to see this very often. It will be weather dependent when it goes away.

“It will be when it rains and the grass grows again.”