Broughton House & Garden (National Trust for Scotland) — Attraction in Scotland

We love visiting Broughton House. It is a lovely home of an artist and has been well preserved. It has some interesting things to see and the paintings are wonderful. The real treasure here, and what keeps us coming back time and time again, is the garden. A maze of little pathways that meander past ponds and rockeries. The garden is broken up with foliage and plants of different heights and colours and each time we go the garden looks different with its different colours. Our most recent visit had the wisteria out in full bloom which was spectacular. Last year we spent ages watching a bumble bee visit all the different varieties of dahlia. My children are 15, 13 and 9 and they all manage to enjoy a visit (maybe becuase it isn't very big so we aren't there long enough for them to start complaining!!). It is a great place to while away a couple of hours. Not much longer than that but Kirkcudbright has plenty of galleries and museums to fill a day with and this is a great...

My first visit to Kirkcudbright and I had never heard of Edward Hornel or Broughton House, so this was an unexpected and delightful discovery. It looks like an unpretentious town house from the street but is quite opulent inside with a lot of interesting things to see. The lady at the entrance desk was both welcoming and informative. Some lovely restored rooms with period furniture and colourful oriental carpets. Hornel's love of Japanese art and culture is reflected in many of the paintings on display and the artefacts he brought back from his travels. You can see his basement studio and also the original pantries and laundry room. There's a coffee machine, tables and second-hand books in the old kitchen. But the highlight for me was the romantic garden with its riot of exotic plants, stepping stones, watercourses, summerhouse and views of the estuary. The autumn colours were beautiful. Would have loved to spend more time here. Well...

The car park is 5-10 minute walk from the house but it's free and you can park all day. You go downstairs to the garden and it really surprising how big it is. The paths like the rest of the garden is very well looked after and there is lots to look at. The bottom of the garden has nice sitting area with lovely views to the marina. The downstair also has an art gallery with drawings and paintings done by the man that use to owned the house and the old kitchen. The sitting room has more paintings and a trap door that is really long and is his hidden under a rug and is a very pleasant room. The dining room feels a bit more crammed with all the large wooden furniture and the...