Isle of Gigha's historic Achamore Gardens' appeal to raise £25,000 after 'devastating' storm damage

Historic gardens on the Isle of Gigha need to raise a further £25,000 to fully repair damage from a “devastating” storm earlier this year.

Achamore Gardens, developed in the mid-20th century by Sir James Horlick, are home to his extensive collections of rhododendrons, conifers and sub-tropical rarities.

It has suffered extensive damage following Storm Eowyn in January, with more than 750 trees thought to have been blown over in the gardens and the surrounding woodland which shelters it.

“I have never seen wind like it,” said Bryony White, the head gardener for the community-owned site.

“I knew that wind could act like that, but I could hear trees falling down, I could hear things crashing down. I knew when I came in on the Saturday, the day after the storms, I was going to find damage.

More than 750 trees have been brought down due to the storm STV News

“Never in my wildest nightmares could I have foreseen or imagined the level of damage that I did find.”

Total repairs so far have already cost £20,000, and much more work is needed.

Around 25% of the garden remains totally inaccessible to the public due to the huge number of trees that have either fallen or have been deemed unsafe as they sway where they stand.

Experts have already been on site for two weeks; a further week’s work is planned – with an extra month expected to be needed to clear the site completely.

Bryony added: “It is very bad, there is a lot of damage, we’ve seen it across Argyll as well in commercial forestry as well, but this for significant tress in a garden its been very very bad.”

Euan Maccormick is the arborist tasked with clearing the debris.

“It is very bad. There’s a lot of damage, we’ve seen it across Argyll, as well as commercial forestry, but for significant trees, this has been really, really bad.”

The storm also had a secondary, just as devastating impact.

The winds dumped huge amounts of Atlantic salt onto the gardens – salt which has destroyed leaves and plants.

In a garden which uses no pesticides, large swaths of what used to be lush greenery with plants from across the globe have been reduced to a dull brown thicket.

The gardens will remain open to visitors despite storm damage STV News

Bryony said: “Horticulturally, this is a massive loss. We have a collection of plants that you just don’t find anywhere else in Scotland, so to have this set back, is huge.

“It is such an important garden. So many people have got married here, brought their kids here, had celebrations here – it’s so popular.”

Parts of the garden are still open to the public while clean-up continues in other areas which suffered damage – but staff say a huge overhaul will be needed in the coming years.

Achamore senior gardener Rebecca Gulliver said: “Even now, we are still finding things we had seen before. There is obviously a lot of work for us to do just now.

“But hopefully, in a few years’ time, there will be some open spaces we can replant, and we do have a lot of nice things up in our greenhouses, which will be nice to get out.”