KYQ4: Portrack, Garden of Cosmic Speculation

Sunday 30 April 2017

Portrack, Garden of Cosmic Speculation

Snake Mound and Lakes

We had been sent tickets by our daughter for the annual one-day opening of Portrack Gardens of Cosmic Speculation just north of Dumfries. The house and gardens had been developed by the American architect and definer of postmodernism, Charles Jencks, and his first wife Maggie Keswick. It is a place where science and the arts come together in landscapes that are "a radical hybrid activity". They are according to Jencks "non-linear sciences that touch all aspects of life and a foil to the modernistic sciences that are fractured and simplistic".

Aileen and I did not really know what to expect, this was part of Scotland's Gardens open day and the event was raising funds for Maggie's cancer care centres. They were founded in memory of Maggie Keswick and have been operating successfully in twenty or so locations mainly in the UK.

An email sent the day before advised us to avoid arriving at opening time as there would be traffic jams to get into the parking area. We took the advice but everyone else must have delayed their arrival as well and we joined the mile-long traffic jam to reach the estate entrance. It took 40 minutes to travel the last 2 miles and already the early arrivals were blocked in as they tried to exit on the single-track road. We met Aileen's friend. Adrienne, and her husband, David, on arrival and began the journey into the magical landscapes. It was a cool but bright day as we began to explore the sculptures and random paraphernalia that sit alongside the Dumfries to Kilmarnock railway line.

We were not disappointed, the place was heaving and the gardens were buzzing with excited adults and quizzical children or that may have been the other way round. The paths provided the chance to absorb the strange juxtaposition of objects. Jencks had had great fun with bulldozers, chainsaws and acetylene torches. The sparkling white Portrack house was the only traditional object on the grounds. The adjacent property was the perfect country retreat in the fertile Nith valley.

We ran into several old acquaintances from the world of community development and tourism who seemed equally intrigued by the experience. We wondered if the paltry three portaloos serving 5000 guests were part of the cosmic speculation or whether Jencks was just having a laugh. After 4 hours of walking and absorbing the gardens, or should that be a radical hybrid activity, we left bemused but happy. I had booked accommodation in Moffat so that I could indulge in some hill walking on the next day.