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Photo: David Hawgood, CC BY-SA 2.0 via Wikimedia Commons
Beautifully presented gardens over 1600 acres (647 hectares) run by National Trust for Scotland. The main garden has landscaped and themed areas; the Sculpture Garden has over 30 works by Scottish sculptors; and the nearby Nature Reserve (free, open all year) ranges from wetlands to woodlands. Wildlife includes bats, ospreys and various wildfowl. The House, visited in summer by guided tour, is a Baronial mansion of 1871 with 1930s decor.
Threave Garden and Estate is a series of gardens owned and managed by the National Trust for Scotland, located near Castle Douglas in the historical county of Kirkcudbrightshire in Dumfries and Galloway region of Scotland.
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Threave Castle is a much-bashed but still massive tower built in the 1370s by Archibald the Grim, Lord of Galloway. It was the stronghold of the Black Douglases, too strong for King James II liking, so in 1455 he besieged and captured it. It was thereafter in royal control until 1640 when the Covenanters captured and partly demolished it, and it was abandoned. The castle is on an island in the River Dee, so you get there on a little boat, included in the ticket price.