The Dumfries Arbor…

Project: The Dumfries Arbor

Build Type: Heritage

Location: Dumfries House Estate, Scotland

Date: Summer - Autumn 2019

Organisation: Princes Foundation

In July 2019, I was lucky enough to enrol on the Building Crafts Programme. The main structure of the course began in south west Scotland with a 10 week 'live build' at Prince Charles' stunning Dumfries Estate.

Carpenters, joiners, stonemasons, a blacksmith, a plasterer, a bricklayer and a stained glass artist all came together to construct multiple structures for the Walled garden within the estate. Myself and the rest of the wood workers crafted a Chinese / Victorian Arbour with a Douglas fir frame, intricate trellis work and a very unique curved hip roof with turned finials that now sits proudly in the centre of the walled garden. The masonry plinth was created by the bricklayer and masons and the roof was leaded by an external team of very talented, award winning lead roofers.

Overall the build required a lot of head scratching, trial and errors, late nights and coffee, lots of coffee. In the end though it was all worthwhile and provided an amazing and very unique build shared with a brilliant team of craftspeople.

Additional to this we also crafted a large oak framed gate for the entrance to the walled garden, follow the link below…