Of Villa Residences we can only notice a few, remarkable either for their beauty, curiosity, garden culture, or keeping. Castle Dykes is on a romantic spot, overlooking the Nith and the town of Dumfries. The surface is broken, irregular, and rocky; partly from its having been the site of an old castle, and partly from its having served for many years as a quarry to supply red sandstone for the buildings of Dumfries. Nature and accident supplied a few old trees; and the late Mr. Stott, the proprietor, who formed the place, spared no expense in building and gardening, that could contribute towards rendering it a little wonder of romantic beauty, as well as a comfortable and elegant residence. This gentleman's widow, now in America, had a taste for art and also for botany; and to this circumstance may be traced many beauties in the grounds, which it is probable would not otherwise have found a place there, and many rare trees and shrubs not common in this part of Scotland. Mrs. Stott had an excellent collection of house exotics, the greater part of which, however, we were told, she took with her to America. The kitchen-garden is placed in the bottom of what was one of the largest quarries reduced to a level, and covered with suitable soil, brought from a distance. This level is in the form of an oval, and on three sides of it there are steep grass banks, along the top of which is a terrace walk, whence the eye looks down on the garden on one side, and to the pleasure-ground, scenery, and distant country on the other. A great mistake committed here, in our opinion, is that of covering these steep banks with turf, instead of clothing them with low shrubs, such as rhododendrons, and all the genera belonging to that order which do not grow above 4 or 5 ft. high. The effect produced by these shrubs would have been delightful: whereas a grassy bank, too steep to be walked on, not being part of a regular terrace, is of no use in adding to the effect, and is commonplace in itself. The trouble of mowing this exceedingly steep bank, we were told, was very great; and the grass, notwithstanding, looked coarse and thin. The walls, offices, and buildings of every description are executed in the most substantial manner, and with an extraordinary degree of attention to neatness, and to the perfection of minute details. Formerly, the whole place was kept in the very highest order; even the floors of the pigsties, we were informed, were scrubbed with white sandstone, like door-steps; but at present, though still respectable in point of neatness, the walks in the lawn have sunk too deep for the grass edgings; the trees and shrubs have become crowded, and the grass is less frequently mown than it ought to be. [Editor's Note (2005) Castle Dykes Park is north of Dufries]
