Shopper's Diary: Secret Herb Garden in Scotland's Pentland Hills

“A big glasshouse stuffed full of flowers, herbs, cake, and vintage furniture—that’s my idea of paradise,” writes blogger Jen Chillingsworth. She visited Secret Herb Garden, opened in 2014 in the Pentland Hills south of Edinburgh by Hamish Martin and Liberty Kidd. Seven+ acres of herbs, flowers, fruits, fledgling orchard, and honeybees.

VW Beetle Planter

An old VW Beetle in the corner, boot and bonnet up, herbs and flowers tumbling out. The driver’s door is unlocked—you can nestle in the greenery.

Café and Glasshouse

Food served on enamelware; eat in the café or the glasshouse among herbs and flowers. Quiche with secret herby salad; cakes (strawberry-basil £2.50). Paths divide seating areas with vintage/rustic furniture surrounded by perennials, herbs, climbers.

Artists and Vintage Finds

Artists painting sunflowers on overstuffed sofas. A room of vintage finds: baskets, larder cupboards, galvanized watering cans. For sale: potted herbs, vintage garden tools, accessories.

Classes and Events

School offers beekeeping, herbal medicine, yoga. The garden may be rented for weddings. The idea born on a first date dog walk in 2011—she a banker, he a wine merchant. “We wish the Secret Herb Garden to be a place where people can ‘open the door to the magic of herbs’.”