[1] In 1540 the lands of Ascreavie were sold, along with Balfour and Kirkton of Kingoldrum, by Arbroath Abbey to James Ogilvy of Cookston and his wife Marjory Durie.

[2] A new house was built on the estate in the 1850s, to designs by the Dundee architect William Scott.

Major Sherriff had undertaken a number of plant collecting expeditions with Frank Ludlow in the Himalayas in the 1930s.

At Ascreavie he and his wife began to develop the gardens using plants which he had gathered on these expeditions, including many rare rhododendrons.

Since Sherriff's death, the plant collection has been maintained, and a number of specimens have been donated to botanic gardens in Dundee and Edinburgh.