In 1862 Osgood Hanbury MacKenzie began a painstakingly slow process that was to transform the barren red sandstone landscape of Inverewe. Trees were planted by the pioneering gardener to provide shelter for the area, new soil was brought in and slowly the lush gardens - cared for today by The National Trust for Scotland - emerged, bathing Wester Ross in a mass of natural colour and creating one of Scotland's greatest gardens.Born in Brittany in 1842, Osgood Hanbury MacKenzie, son of the twelfth Laird of Gairloch, returned to England when he was barely one year old. On the death of his father that same year, the family travelled North first to Dingwall and then home to Gairloch where they started life anew. The reminiscences of Osgood MacKenzie depict vividly the emotions and experiences of childhood and youth and offer an insight into the social and economic climate of the period. With great affection and admiration he recalls the strength of his mother and of his uncle during the great famine of 1846-48 as together they struggled to subsidise the starving workers of the district and to bring roadways to the most remote areas of the West. His detailed memories not only unveil one of the bleakest periods of modern Highland History but also proclaim the inner strengths of the Highland peoples and reveal the inspiration for Osgood's later work at Inverewe. Read Less