Bruised but not broken, Dawyck Botanic Garden, near Peebles in the Scottish Borders, has opened for its 2024 season, despite the Herculean task faced by the Horticulture team responsible for clearing damage caused by storms Isha and Jocelyn.

Ranked five-stars by VisitScotland, Dawyck enjoyed its busiest ever visitor season in 2023, recording over forty thousand visitors to the world-famous arboretum and underscoring the Garden’s status as a key attraction in the Scottish Borders.

However, as the team prepared to reopen, the Garden was battered by winter gales. Their impact saw considerable damage to more than a dozen trees, with masses of debris scattered across the 65-acre site.

Now, with the clean-up largely complete, visitors can enjoy seasonal favourites such as Dawyck’s famous and spectacular snowdrops. Galanthophiles are delighted annually by the thousands of alpine gems that are coming into bloom and blanketing the banks of the Scrape Burn, around the Dutch bridge and beyond.

Elsewhere, there are giant redwoods (Sequoiadendron giganteum), Douglas firs (Pseudotsuga menziesii) and not forgetting the oldest tree in the Garden, the famous silver fir (Abies alba) from 1680. New additions to the arboretum include a Scots pine (Pinus sylvestris), planted by local schoolchildren in late 2023 to mark the King’s Coronation and a grove of wild-collected Brewer’s weeping spruce (Picea breweriana), a species classed as vulnerable by the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN).

Indoors, visitors will be delighted by the new, more modern layout and elegant, contemporary colour scheme in the visitor centre. Sixteen years after the building was formally opened, they will first enjoy a more open plan stroll through the shop, before experiencing the full impact of a stunning copper wall in the re-sited welcome area and a redesigned café.

Graham Stewart, Curator of Dawyck Botanic Garden said: “Despite the challenges brought by successive storms, dedicated teamwork ensured that the Garden was presented in a condition ready to receive visitors, in time for our spring reopening. Investment over the winter months in our visitor centre infrastructure will help enhance the overall experience.

“This year, our adult and concession ticket prices are £10 and £8.70, including a voluntary donation to the Garden. The charge will help us to maintain this beautiful Garden and support the research into conservation and biodiversity loss led by our parent organisation, the Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh.

Dawyck is one of four sites of the Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh. The season runs from February 1 to November 30, and from 10am – 4pm in February and November and 10am – 5pm from March to October.

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