Grounds and Wildlife

The grounds at Hopetoun are the perfect place to watch and enjoy wildlife. From quiet woodland corners to the beautiful spring garden, there is something to look out for throughout the year. You can download the Hopetoun Grounds Map to help you plan your visit and find your way around the grounds using the Spring Garden Trail and Sea Walk Trail.

For our younger visitors, click on the following links to download and print various Trails around the House and Grounds:

For the Nature Detectives, click here.

For the House Puzzle Trail, click here.

For the Nature Watch Trail, click here.

For answers to all the above trails, please click here (no cheating!)

For the Green House Trail, click here

For the Blue House Trail, click here

For Green & Blue House Trail Answers, click here

Feel free to also visit the Ranger Centre while you are at Hopetoun for more interpretation on what you might see on your visit.

Geocaching

Geocaching is a global treasure hunt, with thousands of caches hidden all over the world for you to explore and find with a GPS enabled device.  Hopetoun has one Geocaching trail- the Hopetoun Hop. For those already familiar with Geocaching, download the Hopetoun Hop or visit the Geocaching website for more information.

Orienteering

Hopetoun has its very own permanent Orienteering course. If you fancy something a little different whilst visiting the grounds, you can pick up a map pack from the ticket Kiosk for £2 and enjoy the thrill of Orienteering around the grounds of Scotland’s finest stately home.

The course is designed in such a way that lets you explore all 144 acres of the grounds at Hopetoun, with controls situated from the North Deer park overlooking the forth, to the Southern edge of the Spring Garden giving you an energy filled visit.

The Edinburgh Southern Orienteering Club helped to install and maintain the course and run meets at Hopetoun and other locations throughout the year. For more information on Orienteering, please visit their website.

Spring

Enjoy the blooms of the Spring Garden. Follow the way markers and use the trail guide available from the Kiosk or the Ranger Centre to guide you through the wonderful array of planted and wild plants shrubs in the historic Spring Garden.

Snowdrops and Daffodils are the first to delight with Rhododendrons and Azaleas putting on a marvellous display as the months go on.

Folklore steeped Bluebells carpet the south woods and wilderness and primroses display an understated beauty along the Sea Walk Trail

During Spring birds such as Long Tailed Tits and Great Tits can be seen busying around making nests, and singing loudly. Head to Hopes walk to enjoy the birds showing off in the trees.

Summer

House Martins create their nests on the ornate carvings on the Houses East façade. Enjoy the hunting displays of the Swallows catching flying insects over the West lawn between May and September.

Sit by the round pond and enjoy the dragonfly and damselfly’s on a sunny day as they patrol the water’s edge, hunting for tasty morsels to eat.

From June, a visit to the deer park is a must to see the Deer calves. The Hopetoun Red Deer herd live in the park between the Sea Walk Trail and the shore and produce new calves every year. The babies will be flecked with white spots for the first couple of months and will never be far from their mother’s side.

Autumn

Enjoy the changing colours of the ancient trees at Hopetoun with Sweet Chestnut, Beech and Birch trees all providing golden colours. The Lime lined avenue to the south of the house is a great place to enjoy a colourful stroll on a crisp autumn day.

Watch out for the fungi on the lawns, with crimson and parrot waxcaps of bright red and green popping up on the horseshoe lawns to the East of the house, and clouded agarics and other woodland fungi appearing in rings under the trees in the wooded areas.

Hopetoun has internationally important fungi lawns and on a moist autumn day, you will be able to see them in their full splendour.

Winter

With the house winding down, so too do the wildlife, the Swallows have flown south, the Squirrels have finished collecting food stores and the trees have shed their leaves.

During the quiet time over the winter, wildlife sightings become even more special, the glimpse of a stoat out hunting with it’s pale winter coat, or the song of the Robin echoing through the trees.

Looked after by the Ranger Service, the Red Deer grow thicker, darker coats and sit out the long winter months waiting for the spring to arrive and the grounds visitors to return.

With snow on the ground, it is easy to track the movements of the Hopetoun residents, showing where the foxes and badgers are passing through to hunt or where birds such as Pheasants have been walking.

With information on wildlife sightings and the opportunity to borrow resources to explore local flora and fauna, the Ranger Centre is a necessary stop on any visit to Hopetoun House and Grounds.