The Smeaton Estate belonged to the Hepburn family for 400 years, until 1934.
It is now owned by the Gray family, but it remains to be called "Smeaton-Hepburn Estate".
The Estate was originally the home of the Hepburn (later Buchan-Hepburn) family who became the Hepburns of Smeaton in 1538 and who built the mansion house in 1793.
Other records show that the walled gardens were built as early as 1782. The mansion no longer exists, but there is Smeaton House.
Unfortunately the mansion house had to be demolished in the early 1950s and the walled gardens and a few stone steps are all that remain.
Existance of other remains of the Mansion grounds do still exist if you look hard enough.
The history of the gardens started with Sir George Buchan Hepburn who built the Mansion house and the walled gardens.
However, it was his son Sir Thomas who carried out the majority of the ornamental planting and who also created the lake and started the estate Arboretum.
Sir Thomas was succeeded by his second son, Sir Archibald who continued his fathers work.
Records show that he visited every continent except Australia to collect new plants and seeds for the collection at Smeaton.
This tradition was carried on by The Gray family, who bought the estate in 1934,
with George and Anne Gray playing a major part in the continuous planting and maintenance of the gardens and the estate as a whole.
The walled gardens were first opened as a nursery in the 1960s.
For parking follow the road until you get to the walled garden.
If you would like a refreshment after your little walk, the Tearoom in the walled garden has a really good selection(we can highly recomend their cakes).
Many thanks to both Kenneth and Philip Gray for allowing permission to place this cache.
**Please note** The 10am to Dusk Rule.Please stick to these times.
***Congratulations Interloper For FTF***