Do, I do...

For P's last day with us (she flies home tomorrow.  Boo) we headed to the Japanese Garden near Dollar.  We've never been (quelle suprise) but Alan's been twice.
 
What a perfect day to visit this stunning place.
 
The garden was created by a very formidable Scottish adventurer called Ella Christie after her return from a trip to Japan between 1907 and 1908.  Ella travelled extensively in the Far East (with her maid) and was the first western woman to meet the Dalai Lama.
 
She chose a female designer, Taki Handa, to create the seven acre site in the grounds of Cowden Castle. In doing so, the Japanese Garden at Cowden became the first and only garden of its size and scale to be designed by a woman. 

Sadly the garden was vandalised in the 1960s but is being brought back to life by a team of experts including the renowned Japanese architect and garden designer Professor Masao Fukuhara. The Professor is best known for winning the Gold Medal at Chelsea Flower Show as well as the restoration of The Japanese Gardens at Kew, London and Tatton Park, Cheshire.

 The first exciting thing to happen when we arrived at the garden was being approached by a woman who told me she was a blipper and had recognised D!  Turns out it was blipper Maggie D and her husband blipper John D.  Thank you so much for stopping and identifying yourself Maggie.  It was a pleasure to meet you and John in real life. I hope you both enjoyed the garden as much as we did.
 
As we made our way around taking photos (every direction is a photo opp) we approached this little Azumaya.  I had noticed the couple inside and thought the lad looked a little nervous and guessed what might be about to happen, so I pretended to take photos of the pond whilst taking pics of their special moment.  I didn’t want to intrude but thought they might like to have photos of the proposal.  
 
Once it was over we cheered and congratulated them and I asked if they wanted the photos I had taken.  Thankfully they were delighted and so by the magic of airdrop I passed them on.  I just wish I had asked their names and got them to pose for an “official” engagement photo but it all happened so quickly.  We wished them all the very best and left them to it.
 
We had planned to have a late lunch in the little café at the garden but it was very busy so we ended up at the River House in Stirling instead.  It was almost 3pm by then so we decided to make it our main meal of the day and have a light supper later.  It was only when we arrived that we realised we’d also eaten at the River House on the last day of P’s visit in 2022.  We may just have started a new tradition! 
 
Now P is all packed and we are relaxing and enjoying her final evening with us.  Not too sad though as next year’s adventure is all planned.  We’re having a week together in Oban :-))