The Dunmore Pineapple
This is a lovely, short loop (under 3 miles) starting at the Dunmore Pineapple. The 4th Earl of Dunmore gave this eccentric building to his wife as a birthday present in the 1770s. Pineapples were exotic and highly prized delicacies symbolising power, wealth and hospitality, so I can see the point he was trying to make – but it must have been rather a large gift to keep a secret. These days, it belongs to the National Trust for Scotland which rents it out as a holiday home.
After leaving the Pineapple’s grounds, we walked through an avenue of Giant Redwood trees. A detour uphill took as to the ruined Elphinstone Tower (1510) and its overgrown graveyard. I found it sad to see the tombs so neglected.
The path then led us through farmland and an avenue of much smaller trees before crossing a road into the Conservation Area of Dunmore Village. What a pretty little place! It was rebuilt in the 19th century by Catherine, widow of the 6th Earl, in an English style with houses round the village green. The fountain was brought specially from London and has recently been restored. The house with the horse-shoe shaped door (bottom left, click to enlarge) used to be the blacksmith’s, or smiddy.
The path continued with fields of oil-seed rape on one side and the Firth of Forth on the other. Across the water, we could see Clackmannan Tower.
After the quaintness of the conservation village, it was then a surprise to come across a brand new and very modern house.
Finally, we crossed the road again and returned to the Pineapple via Dunmore Park. This was built as a family home in the 1820s, became a school in the 1960s and is now practically derelict. According to the route notes there are plans to turn it into luxury apartments, but it may be too far gone for that.
I loved this impressive array of buildings from different eras in a very short walk, and the views weren’t bad either. Pop over to Jo’s Monday Walks to see where everyone else has been.
The Glasgow Gallivanter 
I attended a book signing/sale at the Tamarack District Library in Lakeview Michigan, and the author, Randy, a lady whose last name I cannot remember, wrote and was selling a book about holiday homes in Ireland. She told about the pineapple house, and the name of her book was “I lived in a Pineapple”. She said those homes are much cheaper to stay in than hotels or B&Bs. I don’t remember the price, but I think she told in the book.
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Interesting! I don’t know the price either, but it must be an intriguing place to stay.
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Love the pineapple it’s very immpressive. The village looks like somewhere I’d like to live.
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Yes, it’s all very pretty.
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The Pinapple building is quite impressive, but I love that last photo. That building looks like something out of a fantasy story. Maybe a steampunk one.
It’s inspiring 🙂
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I shall wait for you to write a story about it then!
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I love the pineapple house! I don’t even want to think of how much it would cost to rent it out for a holiday home… The color on the hills behind the “Fields near Dunbar” is amazing. I would love landscaping like that by the “Former Sniddy”, I’m completely embarrassed by my yard. That modern house looks very familiar. The neighborhood I work in is full of old houses being torn down to be replaced by quickly put up McMansions.
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Trouble with landscaping like that is it’s a lot of work! It was a very pretty walk altogether – I liked the modern house too, but felt it was a bit out of context. It had great views though, I can see why they wanted to build there.
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Beautiful architecture.
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Thanks. And very varied.
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Your home is definitely the land of walks! So beautiful. My family home in western Canada had a door frame with a pineapple on top of the door. My mom used to tell us that it was a symbol of hospitality and I guess she was telling the truth!
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Yes, I thin that’s true. When we visited (I think) S Carolina we learned that they used to our a pineapple on the mantelpiece when visitors arrived. When it was taken wast it was a signal to the visitors that it was time to go!
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A subtle approach to getting visitors to leave heh?
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Quite a good one!
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How very unusual and surely unique. 🙂 I enjoyed our walk together.
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Very different! Glad you liked it.
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Ooh wow-look at the beautiful sights in this short walk. I love the pineapple house and the unique doorway on the other. Love the gnome resting. I am not one for modern but I hope they can save that older home/school-I love all the “spires”. I am so enjoying seeing this today. My weekend was rough and today I am in bad pain where It’s hard to walk to the bathroom so I am enjoying so much what you see
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Sorry to hear that Birgit. Glad I cheered you up a wee bit.
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And here I think it’s hard to keep small gifts a surprise from the husband!
This looks like a beautiful place. And I love the little elf guy!
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He’s so cute! Almost as cute as Choppy….
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What an interesting structure!
Have a great day,
Pit
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It’s certainly unique!
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I have seen this place on a TV programme. The pineapple is amazing! And I loved the walk with you around the area. Lovely views and photographs. The modern house looks nice and light, I wouldn’t mind looking inside it, but the terracotta warrior figure (see I spelled it correctly this time!) is a little odd. Unless it is something else entirely. Hope they rescue the building in the park, it would make lovely apartments.
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No, that’s what it is! It was a real shock coming round the corner from the conservation village and finding that. It’s lovely though, conservatory and balconies looking over the water.
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Wonderful walk, Anabel! I’d love to do this one 🙂 Who owns Elphinstone Tower- do you know? Shame about the graveyard. And I’m not a lover of gnomes but I could give that one a home. 🙂 Many thanks for your company again.
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It’s part of the Dunmore Estate so I assume, but am not certain, it belongs to NTS too. Yes, that gnome caught the eye. He looks very relaxed.
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I thought NT but when you said neglected I thought it must be someone else’s. Maybe they’ll get to it. 🙂
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I don’t know, maybe the family still have some responsibility. Don’t want to malign NTS unnecessarily!
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Andrew Petcher does a good job 🙂
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Huh? Who? What?
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Ah, sorry! Sometimes forget who knows who, Anabel 😦 Have Bag, Will Travel. He’s rather amusing 🙂 https://apetcher.wordpress.com/2013/07/20/catalonia-in-search-of-norman-lewis/
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Ok, thanks – I’ll take a look!
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The post I’ve linked to is not to everyone’s taste but it’s his latest. He’s an authority on the Greek Islands and Spain. If you have time, have a browse. He’s a nice man 🙂
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Looks like a great walk – I love that pineapple, so quirky and unusual, seems like it would be a great place to stay too!
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I’ve never seen anything quite like it!
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Although I’ve lived in the Forth Valley area all my life I only recently visited The Pineapple. Lovely building isn’t it? And a couple of years ago we viewed a house for sale in Dunmore. It was the cottage next door to the one with the horseshoe shaped door and it actually had a swimming pool inside! The village is a quaint wee village with loads of character.
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Really? I would never have guessed any of the houses round the green had room for a pool. I’d only been to the Pineapple once before, many years ago, so thought it was overdue a revisit.
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The pool was tiny in a rear extension and meant the back garden was swallowed up (also the garden wasn’t fenced in and open to the water so no good for our dogs). The pool room had a strong damp smell so we didn’t bother taking the viewing any further. Lovely area though.
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Hmm, doesn’t sound ideal.
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Hi Anabel,
That pineapple reminded me of a trip I made in home country back in 2010. There was a huge hollow pineapple in which 5-6 people could fit inside! The place was a relatively cooler place which is perfect condition for growing pineapples.
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That sounds interesting! I would love to go inside this one – maybe we’ll book it for a short holiday some day.
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