We grow a comprehensive range of fresh fruits and vegetables and soft fruits in our one-acre walled garden. All our produce is grown using only natural methods and fertilisers and is available to buy.

Fresh free-range eggs are sometimes available from our own Black Rock hens which are a native breed of Scotland. All our poultry is fed on natural foods.

We have introduced standard breeds of domestic ducks and geese at Ardmarnoch so in the near future surplus duck and goose eggs will also become available.

We have recently introduced Tamworth pigs here on the estate, as well as our pedigree Toggenberg goats.

Game is available through the season and includes venison (red and roe). Pheasant, Wild Duck, Woodpigeon , Wild Geese, and for the more adventurous, Woodcock.

Weather permitting, fresh fish from Loch Fyne are caught from our own boat and available. We try to keep a reasonable stock in the freezer. We also have our own stocked Brown Trout ponds. To purchase any game, fish or eggs please ask Graham or Morven, for fruit and vegetables please ask Chris, the gardener.

Mammals

We are blessed with a wide range of mammal life for a Scottish estate. During a weeks stay you are able to see Red Deer, Roe Deer, seals, otters, foxes, red squirrels, pine martin, badgers, stoats and unfortunately mink. Many of the mammals are nocturnal in their habits so effort is required but around the visitor accommodation the deer - at dawn or dusk - and red squirrels during the day are not uncommon.

In addition we have a range of farm animals including geese, Muscovy ducks, a 'mongrel' collection of chickens, Tamworth Pigs, and Highland cattle.

Vegetation

Although only 1 square mile in area we are fortunate in the variety of the ground in the estate and in the mildness of the climate which benefits from the gulf stream and the sea loch. The result is that we have an extensive area of cultivated garden. Ardmarnoch also has an abundance of wild flowers helped by the absense of intensive farming. Throughout the spring and early summer wild flowers succeed each other, celandines, primroses, wood anemone, bluebells, foxgloves, etc.

So far over 1500 varieties of trees and shrubs have been catalogued. Ardmarnoch is unusual for having a very large area of Argyll native oak wood, the main vegetation for this part of Scotland since the end of the last ice age. Those woods are magical for their flowers, animals and birds. In addition there is the arboretum and policy woodland as well as decorative smaller trees and fruit trees.

The garden supports large areas of perennials and vegetables. If you came here in the late summer and autumn you will be able to find chantarellus and ceps in large numbers but we are not going to tell you where they are - you will have to go and find them for yourselves!

Three baby Highland Cows are brand new to the estate this week, and one of our pigs has just given birth to a new litter of piglets. (25 February 2008)