Searching Tentsmuir Forest, in Fife, for the remains of a wartime Polish Army Camp, I stumbled upon this enchanting, and very colourful, garden… and its slightly unsettling ‘lady’ occupants.
Based around the remnants of an unnamed cottage dating from the second half of the 19th century, the garden forms part of an off-the-beaten track encampment located on a forest track midway between Kinshaldy Farm, now riding stables, and, to the north, a long abandoned and demolished steading that once stood at Old Muirs. Close to the cottage, hidden away amongst the trees, are the remains of a 19th century well, one possible reason for its construction here. A similar well existed at Old Muirs.
The cottage, once home to farmers, is now a ruin but the site is still occupied. Around its remaining stone walls, which are barely visible amongst the foliage, are a couple of static caravans, an old van and a lean-to, christened the Second Best Exotic Covid Hotel, plus a garden full of colourful artworks and objects, many wooden and most celebrating the female form, and a lot clearly scavenged from the beach at Tentsmuir Sands, to the east.
On constant patrol are almost a dozen female mannequins, all fashionably dressed and each with a colourful wig and an alluring gaze. It is a glamourous if slightly unnerving vision of beauty so deep in the trees.
The land, which abuts fields of ponies, is private but the garden can be enjoyed from the adjacent track without need to encroach upon this remote homestead.
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Secret Scotland 