Dirleton Castle
Local highlightA handsome ruined castle in an East Lothian village, wrapped in old gardens with a dovecot and one of the longest flower borders anywhere
Open to visitorsa Historic Environment Scotland site — many are free to wander; staffed ones charge and keep set hours
Substantial ruinsruined, but plenty survives above ground
The gardens are half the reason to come to Dirleton: lawns and clipped yew, a beehive-shaped stone dovecot (a tower for keeping pigeons), and a long herbaceous border that has been listed among the longest in the world. The castle they surround is a ruin, but a good one, its oldest towers going back to the 1200s and the powerful de Vaux family, with later halls added by the lords who followed. Edward I’s army besieged and took Dirleton in 1298, during the wars with Scotland. Much later, in 1650, Cromwell’s troops battered it into ruin after moss-troopers (border raiders) used it as a base, and it was never rebuilt. Historic Environment Scotland looks after the castle and garden, in the middle of Dirleton village. The beach at Yellowcraig and the little cone of North Berwick Law are both close by.
