Protect & ADAPT

The garden at Shieldhill is a tranquil place. Enclosed within its 200-year-old sandstone walls is a contemporary garden of clean lines and simple planting, where water flows gently through pond and rill, traditional scents of lavender and roses fill the air, and a wildflower meadow hums with bees. Beyond the walls, grass paths wind through woodland trees.

For Nicola and Jim Gordon, Shieldhill represents a return home. Nicola’s work as a petroleum engineer in the oil industry meant that they and their family lived abroad, in Scandinavia and elsewhere in Europe, for some 30 years, always in rented houses. It was only eight years ago that they decided to look for a place of their own in Jim’s native Scotland, and fell for Shieldhill near Biggar in South Lanarkshire.

The property was once the kitchen