Garden Visits - The Japanese garden at Cowden

Our visit took place mid August, looking for somewhere in Scotland where it wasn't raining on our day off! The Japanese garden has been on my list of gardens to visit for quite a while so it was great to finally get there. Well signposted from the small town of Dollar, the gardens have ample parking and a shady area under trees for cars with dogs, so we knew Bracken would be fine while we were visiting the garden. Dogs are allowed in the woodland garden so Bracken had a nice long walk before we left. 

Entering the Japanese garden

Having booked our tickets online the night before it was quick and easy to get in by just showing our confirmation email. Having seen photos of the neglected garden and its restoration on line, it was interesting to see it in real life. The gardens are dominated by the loch, allowing lovely reflections of the surrounding trees. Bridges large and small, stepping stones, shrines and a pavilion over looking the loch are in the tradition of a Japanese garden, indeed many of the original shrines were sourced from Japan. 

The loch

The teahouse

The path takes you around the loch, crossing the burn at the far end. I loved the area of raked gravel around mounds of individual stones, moss and simple plantings. Surrounded by Acers beginning to take on autumn colours, you could quite believe you'd been transported to a quiet and contemplative garden in Japan. The grouping of stones in this area are all laid out in traditional Japanese custom, many of them still in the arrangement laid out by Taki Handa all those years ago. 

Moss, rocks and patterns in gravel

Moss and rocks

Contemplative

Bamboo water feature

The zig zag (yatsushashi) bridge crosses over to an island in the middle of the loch, crossing low across the water, it gives you a real feel of being on the loch, though for me it wasnt wide enough,, not being a fan of large bodies of water. From the island you carry on over the beautiful arched bridge to the the other side. The path eventually brings you back round to the entrance and the dam of the loch allowing great views over the loch to the gardens.

A walk way across the loch

"In a sheltered foothold of a grassy range of hills, that stretch from sunrise to sunset, lies the gardens of my dreams. As its background softly rounded hills breathe peace, after the fierce volcanic agencies that upraised them, and long aeons of time have moulded their forms into the undulating lines that encircle the surroundings of 'Shã-raku-en', The place of pleasure and delight. "

ELLA CHRISTIE AND ALICE STEWART

'A long look at life by two Victorians'

Bridge across the loch

The Japanese garden in the grounds of the now demolished Cowden Castle were the culmination of one intrepid woman's travels in the east at the beginning of the 20th century. Isabella ‘Ella’ Christie of Cowden (1861 –1949) was born in Midlothian and moved with her parents to Cowden Castle in 1865. For four years from 1904 to 1908, as a young woman she travelled to India, Tibet, Malay, China, Hong Kong, Russian and Japan. By all accounts she was quite a woman for her time whose achievements included being the first western lady to travel from Samarkand to Khiva and to meet the Dalai Lama. 

Reflections in the loch

Inspired by her visit to Japan and the gardens there she returned to Cowden in 1908 and began her garden journey by damning the burn that ran through the seven acre site that became the Japanese Garden. Unsurprisingly for such a woman of her time Miss Christie employed a woman, Taki Handa who was studying at Studley College in England. She was originally from the Royal School of Garden Design at Nagoya. She was employed for two months to begin the creation of the gardens. 

Acers beginning to colour up for autumn

Miss Christie largely employed Japanese gardeners and this meant the gardens stayed true to the style of Japanese gardens. Over the next few decades the gardens developed and were frequently opend to the public until 1949 when Miss Christie died of Leukaemia, aged 87. The gardens and grounds were maintained under a trust set up for her great nephew. 

Acers and Hydrangeas

In 1952 Cowden Castle was demolished and the gardens were opened to the public for the last time in 1955. Sadly in 1963 a group of teenagers broke in and did a lot of damaging, burning the tea houses and knocking down the lanterns. It wasn't until 2008 when the gardens were handed over to Miss Christie's great great niece that there was a glimmer of hope for the future of the gardens. 

The glorious colours of Acers

From 2010 onwards work was started to find the gardens again, including dredging the loch, finding the damaged lanterns and laying plans. The charity The Japanese Garden at Cowden Castle was formed in 2014 and the gardens finally re-opened to the public in 2017.

After our walk around the gardens and lunch outside from the cafe on site, we collected Bracken from the car and went for a walk along the woodland paths. We were delighted to see two red squirrels in the woods on our walk. A highlight of the day. 

 

Many thanks to the website for the gardens for the historical information. You can find out when to visit and how to support the gardens and much much on the website here:

Japanes Gardens at Cowden

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