Teasses Estate

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Let's take a little break from all this history talk and focus on more celebratory things. While we have a long heritage at Teasses it is only in recent years that've opened our stunning 2-acre walled garden to Weddings, parties and celebrations.

If you are looking for a beautiful, secluded oasis in Fife to celebrate life's biggest moments then consider our Walled Garden and Greenhouses at Teasses. Our lush gardens provide all the natural decoration you could ask for and our elegant greenhouse makes for the perfect setting for a candlelit drinks reception.

Our dedicated team at Teasses will work with you to bring your dream day into reality. We work with some of the best event providers in Scotland from florists, bands, caterers and mobile bars to photographers, videographers and stylists. Let Teasses be the venue where your memories are made.

To find out more about out venue please contact our Head of Events, Joanne on [email protected].

Our 2025 diary is filling up fast, so don't miss your opportunity to make memories at Teasses. A moment of magic in our enchanting greenhouse and garden.

Medieval Teasses

The first mention of 'Teasses' as a land holding is in a charter dating from 1204. Malcom, Earl of Fife, grants the lands of Teasses to Alexander de Blair (a progenitor of the Blair family). We have some historical evidence that Alexander de Blair married Ela de Nyden the heiress of Teasses prior to this. Little is known about the de Nyden family; they were a Norman family thought to have been given lands in Fife by King William 'The Lion' in the 12thC. Ela's father, Hugh de Nyden was born in the 1100s and master of Teasses and the surroundings - including Cults (which the Blairs went on to hold for several generations).

The marriage between Alexander de Blair and Ela de Nyden brought Teasses into Blair lordship.

"Earl Malcolm of Fife notifies all his friends and his men that he has given and granted and by his charter established to Alexander of Blair the whole land of ‘Thases’ and ‘Kintases’ and ‘Ballendureth’ (Bandirran) by their right bounds and with all their just pertinents, in feu and heritage, for the service of one knight, as freely as any knights holds his feu in the kingdom of Scotland of an earl or a baron."

Alexander and Ela's son, William de Blair went on to become Steward of Fife, granted by King Alexander II in 1235. Their daughter Catherine went on to marry into the Leslie family, thus bringing the lands of Teasses into the Leslie claim and eventually the Earldom of Rothes (1458).

It was sometime during this period (1204 and 1440s) that the 'Castro de Tacis' or Castle of Teasses was constructed. We don't have any contemporary images or descriptions of the building, however we do find references to it in the historical record.

We know for example that the Barony included a mill and castle "Baronia de Tacis cm castro et molendino" in early records. We also know that Sir Andrew Leslie, heir to his father George Leslie, later Earl of Rothes, was born at Teasses in 1441. A substantial dwelling must have been in place for the Lady Christina to take her final month of confinement prior to giving birth.

In our next instalment of the History of Teasses learn more about the Castle of Tacis and how the land was used by medieval lords.

What is in a name?

Much of the time in historical research is waylaid by following fruitless paths. It is particularly challenging when trying to identify sources which relate to a particular place. Unfortunately for our historian this is especially true of Teasses.

Today we call the estate Teasses which is derived from an old gaelic term meaning damp or wet place. This reflects the multiple fresh water springs we have on the Estate - which still today - provide us with fresh water. However, as much of our history is oral or phonetic at a time when most people couldn't read or write, place names tend to have many variations.

At this moment we can count eighteen different spellings of Teasses; Thases, Kintases, Tassa, Tases, Tacis, Taissis, Tacesse, Tasis, Tassis, Tessis, Taisses, Terses, Tersis, Tercis, Teas, Teass, Teases and finally Teasses. Derivations of these also include Hall and Hill added to each one in reference to the Farm (Hillteasses) and the site of the old castle (Hallteasses) we also see reference to Castle of Tacis in the 1400s and Mill of Teasses or Teassesmill in relation to a cottage on the edge of Ceres. As well as these English spellings we have to contend with latin terms too, such as; 'molendinum' (de Taisses), 'castro' (Tasis) and 'baronia' all of which make for an extremely entertaining treasure hunt.

For much of its history the Barony of Teasses covered extensive lands around Ceres, New Gilston, Peat Inn and towards Kennoway these included; Teasses, Cocklaw, Bandirran, Clockmadron, Kilmux and Gathercauld.

The Master of Teasses - as the baronial lord became known - controlled extensive farming, hunting, mining and woodlands covering approx 20 square miles, an area roughly covering 4% of the entire area of Fife.

The heart of the estate remains at Teasses and while now much shrunken in size since those early days we do find glimpses of the Barony throughout Scottish history.

Continue learning about the history of Teasses with our weekly Heritage mini-doc posts on Facebook and Instagram. Contribute your own piece of Teasses history in the comments below if you have family stories relating to the Estate.

The history of Teasses has been 'lost to the mists of time'; it has only been in recent years that our resident historian has started to uncover lost stories, links to great events in Scottish history and identified some of the previous 'Masters of Teasses' and while this journey has taken years to unravel what is clear is that Teasses or rather; The Barony of Teasses, has a long and ancient past.

In this week's post we explore the very earliest history we have on Teasses. Evidence of habitation and significance spanning thousands of years. Our earliest artefact relates back to the early Bronze Age some 4,500 years. This artefact was uncovered in 2002 by gardener Bob Bilson and is known as a Flint Scraper used to remove skin and flesh from animal bones. It measures approximately 5" and is now in the Fife Museum stores.

Around the same time stone carvings started to appear in Scotland. On Teasses we have evidence of one such carved boulder which sits quietly on a slope at Bankhead. This large stone has one spiral pattern cut into it - like a snail's shell or a ripple of water. We cannot be sure what this symbol would have meant to the people who called this area home 4,500 years ago but it remained significant enough to be prominent even throughout the industrial era on Teasses when quarrying and mining in the area would have risked the stone being broken up or buried. We use the pattern on this stone in the garden design of Morna's Garden.

Our final piece of the ancient jigsaw is the significant silver hoard found on the very edge of the estate between Largo Estate and Teasses in 1819 on the site known as Norrie's Law. This out of place mound on the top of a ridge running on the south side of the estate was excavated in the early 19th C. after reports of Pictish silver were circulated around the community. Norrie's Law is said to be the resting place of a Pictish king and the archaeological report at the time mentions a stone coffin within the mound itself. The collection contains pre-Roman, Roman and early medieval silver and is on display in the National Museums Scotland in Edinburgh.

https://youtu.be/w9CtTmpaQCM?list=TLGGW4HYcdAgKhEzMTA3MjAyNA

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Teasses is a family home, a farm, a sporting estate, a garden and of course a venue.

Our venue business has been growing over the last few years with weddings and celebrations filling our diary. It is such a great pleasure to share special moments with our guests.

The venue is our stunning two-acre walled garden which has been restored over the last two decades. Our fantastic long borders are bursting with colour, garden beds full of flowers (let nature do your decoration) and plenty of lawn space for games, vendors and attractions. The walled garden is a fantastic location for a relaxed party and the greenhouse a stunning setting for semi-formal dinners.

The greenhouse makes for a spectacular evening setting with festoon lights illuminating the trailing plants and vines. The greenhouse consists of three spaces. The central conservatory is an excellent space for ceremonies, intimate dining and drinks receptions while the adjoining Peach and Vine Houses are ideal spots to set up a bar or create relaxed lounging allowing you take in the evening scents of the garden.

The conversion from productive greenhouse to venue space took a bit of time. Firstly, we needed to remove the propagation benches and create nursery space at another location within the garden. The old hot box where we would overwinter our orchids was removed and the raised beds full of interesting exotic plants replaced with extra tiles to maximise floor space. The walls needed to be painted and utilitarian heating pipes covered or replaced. The old boiler house was converted into a catering kitchen and previously what was the vehicle store converted into country style restrooms. The jasmines in the conservatory were planted over 20 years ago and still provide heavenly perfume while the passionflower planted only two years ago dominates the conservatory, providing shade and bizarre but beautiful flowers all summer.

Our marquee can accommodate up to 120 guests for dinner and is constructed on sustainable ground screws raising the marquee off of the ground and providing a fantastic dance floor.

The entire Walled Garden Venue is available for hire throughout the year.

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We have to apologies for the recent spell of bad weather, we started cutting silage and of course that meant the heavens opened.

We often hear visitors to our farm ask; "what do you feed the cows when they are inside" the answer is quite straight forward. We feed them exactly the same as they get outside...grass (quite a bit of clover too). The process of making silage is fundamental to our success. The ground is too heavy and wet to out-winter cattle for most of the winter and so we need to bring them inside during the worst months. Our cattle live inside from early December until calving is finished in the spring so we need to ensure we have plenty of feed for them during that time.

Not only do the cattle come inside during the harshest months for shelter but also we finish our beef cows inside on a carefully rationed diet to ensure they produce excellent quality meat. As an organic farm we are experts in feed rationing; we cannot rely on additives to feed our livestock, instead we have to understand the individual dietary needs of each group of animals. Silage plays a key role in making sure we get this right - along with careful assessment of the nutrient levels in our silage pit - we can judge if we need to add our own home grown organic barley or oats or indeed if we need to add organic beans to the ration. This is assessed by monthly weight assessment of each animal and by blood testing to ensure we've got it right. There is a science to this farming malarky (!).

Silage is fresh grass and red clover cut in the summer months when it is a nutritional peak and then stored either baled or in our silage pits and covered to allow the grass to ferment and preserve many of the nutrients and beneficial micro-organisms contained within the grass. It is essential that once the pit is full we cover it immediately to prevent contamination.

Our biggest 'crop' at Teasses has to be the grass we cut for silage, it is essential to the success of the farming enterprise on the Estate and it really is 'all hands on deck' to get the pit filled and covered.

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Did you know that July is National Picnic Month in the UK?

What better way to enjoy our gardens at Teasses than with a basket full of delicious treats from home. We have lots of little secret places and rolling lawns for you to put your blanket down and enjoy a leisurely lunch when the gardens are open.

The question is; jam sandwiches and a flask of tea or fancy cheese and a bottle of fizz? ... We'll leave that up to you...

Bring along your picnic basket every Thursday from 10am to 4pm and enjoy a relaxed day at Teasses.

RHS Members free of charge

We are rather proud of the work our Keepers undertake not only to provide an excellent day of sporting both throughout the summer with our simulated game days but of course throughout our driven season from September to the end of January.

The work Kenny, Jordan and their valuable helpers carry-out on a daily basis to maintain the estate, support wildlife and rear our ducks, pheasants and partridges is invaluable to the success of the Estate.

We are delighted to be nominated for the Best Sporting Estate Award 2024 and cannot wait to hear the result at Scone this weekend. Fingers, toes and feathers crossed!

Still some availability for our 2024 summer simulated game shooting season. Get in touch to book your day on Teasses.

Nature and Conservation
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Teasses Estate covers approximately 1,100 acres or 4km2 of hill top Fife countryside. That's an area almost double that of Cupar. We feel a great responsibility to ensure that we are managing and maintaining the landscape not only for ourselves but for all of Scotland.

Teasses has undergone extensive nature restoration over the last 28 years from the restoration of kilometres of hedges and drystone d***s, creation of five ponds and waterways, planting of hundreds of acres of woodland, conversion to Organic, gathering water from a spring to feed all the water needs of the estate.

In that time we have seen a significant improvement in our nature too. We work with the Barn Owl Trust to help secure the local population barn owls. The Barn Owl Trust provide nesting boxes and monitoring for this elusive bird. We work with a local beekeeper who has installed Scottish honeybee hives, our gamekeepers trap invasive species to support native species.

This year we see another giant step in our approach to nature as we reconfirm some of our ambitious strategy plans (more information to come) but to achieve this we need your support. In the next few months we will be conducting surveys on the estate to record our biodiversity; if you would be interested to help or have experience in surveying for nature please get in touch with our Factor, Craig Cameron, on [email protected] or by replying to this post.

Summer simulated shooting on Teasses

We offer a range of full and half-day packages throughout the summer including Simulated Game Shooting, Clay Pigeon Shooting and .22 Rifle Shooting.

Ideal for groups, both novice and experienced guns welcome.

If you would like to learn more about the summer days we can offer please get in touch via [email protected]

Check our website for full details.

Our farming future

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This year we increased our sheep numbers on the estate, our aim by introducing sheep is to help improve the land management of Teasses. Where traditionally our cattle would graze pasture all summer we have introduced sheep into a mixed grazing practice in order to increase species diversity, control w**d growth and to return essential nutrients back to the soil. As we are an organic system we have to carefully manage our essential resource...that is... the soil we rely on to grow our crops and feed our livestock.

We have selected a breed of sheep which are high health, good mothers and produce excellent meat. The lambs born this spring will be sold for organic meat in the autumn after a summer of grazing our multi-species pasture.

An important task as the days grow warmer is to remove the wool from our adult sheep. Shearing is an essential welfare responsibility primarily to prevent over heating and reduce parasite and disease pressures. Historically an estate like Teasses would rely on wool sales to contribute to the maintenance of the Estate, however, sadly nowadays wool is so poorly priced that it would in fact cost us money to sell the wool. Therefore shearing can only be seen as a welfare process rather than an income generator for the Estate.

With help from our local shearers we will take the wool from our flock 145 sheep and the wool will be piled up at our composting site and left to rot. After two years the wool rots into perfect mulching compost which we will use in the garden. Fresh fleeces also makes a wonderful slug repellent mulch under pumpkins and squash; simply place the wool under the growing plant.

You may well ask - what is Teasses - and we like to say; we are a traditional sporting and shooting estate covering approximately 1,100 acres of hilltop Fife countryside.

Our family owned Estate not only comprises woodland, ponds, meadows and pasture but our Walled Garden also plays host to weddings and events throughout the year.

The organic estate is home to our Aberdeen Angus x Simmental x Shorthorn beef cattle and 150 breeding ewes and at this time of year over 200 lambs.

The landscape on the estate was restored over 25 years ago to provide excellent sporting for driven pheasants, duck and partridge in the winter months. However, throughout the summer we host simulated game shooting days across the estate and fishing on our trout loch in the heart of Teasses.

Our stunning 60-acre gardens are open to the public every Thursday to the end of September from 10am to 4pm. Bring a long a picnic and make a day of it!

From Weddings, Garden Events, Celebrations of Life, Farming, Land Management and Conservation, Simulated Sporting, Winter Driven Days and Self-catering in one of our three cottages. We certainly like to keep ourselves very busy. To learn more about Teasses or to book one of our events please check out our website www.teasses.com or contact [email protected]

Come work with us this summer. We are looking for two seasonal gardeners to work with our gardening team of 3 full time gardeners.

Hours are Monday to Friday 8am to 6pm until the end of August. No previous experience necessary - all training provided. One to work in our Walled Garden and the other to work in the Formal Gardens around the house. Enthusiasm, fitness and own transport necessary.

Please get in touch with Craig on [email protected] or PM us.

Looking for an immediate start. Ideal for school leavers or students.

For those that missed Craig on Beechgrove Garden this evening, it is available on BBC Iplayer now!!

I’m sure you will agree that he did a fantastic job!

Monty look out!!!

Beechgrove Garden - 2024: Episode 7 Ideas on what to plant in a shaded area of woodland.

Good job chaps!