Tuesday, September 1, 2015

Scotland: Aberfeldy & Drummond Castle Gardens

It's time for another pictorial visit to Scotland, this time to Aberfeldy and the Drummond Castle Gardens.

A friend and I had the chance to head out on our own for this trip. We passed some lovely scenery as we headed directly north from Aidrie and Cumbernauld.


Our first destination was the Watermill Bookshop in Aberfeldy which we read about in a little book from Lorna's Tearoom Delights


It was just the kind of place we could (and did) spend hours! There were amazing teas and coffees, decadent baked goods, and hearty lunch menus. But there were also books!!! Well-curated books at that!



Look at the beautiful, loose-leaf teas! We started with Darjeeling and a Mango Flower tea.



After our "morning cuppa" we walked around and drooled at books for a long time in order to work up an appetite for lunch, which was accompanied by Apple Loves Mint tea and Orange and Cinnamon Spiced coffee.


As for food, we had leek and roasted yellow pepper soup, parsnip and apple soup, and a cheese sandwich on focaccia.


Eventually we did have to leave in order to drive south again for our next stop.


Drummond Castle Gardens!


Oh yes! They were amazing! Just look at all that:



It was September 12, and still there were many lovely flowers in bloom.


Rosehips:



During the six weeks we were in Scotland I believe I only managed to visit two proper gardens -- this one and the garden at Abbotsford.

The castle makes a beautiful backdrop for the garden:



I loved this mushroom shrub! And the older couple walking away together far off down the lawn:


A close-up of the lichen that covers the trees. I am told this makes for amazingly clean air.


There was even a vegetable garden down by the potting shed.


With some mammoth zucchinis (or, we should say, courgettes -- although perhaps these might be called marrows?):


Sweet peas in bloom!


And look at the dahlias!


We can't look at dahlias without thinking about our old friend, Jimmy, who grew prize-winning varieties in his Airdrie garden.

The beauty was hard to capture on camera.

And there were a few roses:


The castle is still privately inhabited.


A few more views from the garden:


I'm sure the garden is just lovely in each season -- a few more weeks and the fall leaves would have been stunning:


Our cameras were going click, click, click.


Look at that beautiful flower!


Eventually it was time to make the long drive down home. It certainly was a lovely day out. I came home with lots of photos and a list of books to add to my reading list. :)

7 comments:

Catherine said...

How lovely! I like the designation of rates for "adults" and "superadults!" When I am a senior I am absolutely going to refer to myself as a superadult. And don't you love to hear that old houses and castles are still privately inhabited? It's so interesting to imagine how life is for the family living there. When we lived in Germany it seemed that often a castle would be partially open for tours and partially not because a family was living in part of it. I always wanted to find the family and befriend them so I could observe how a structure from so long ago would be updated.

Someone should write a book about such a family!

I hope you don't run out of these posts any time soon!

Anonymous said...

Superadults! That's great! I must remember that when my time comes.
What beautiful gardens, and it looked like you had a lot of them to yourself in which to wander about. Not too many people.
How I would love to return to Scotland some day. Your posts are always a reminder to me of the wonderful time I spent there. Thankyou!
Blessings,
Marie

reader19 said...

WOW! I think the lichen tree was the one picture that I would truly love to see in person! That just blew me away! Thanks for the post!

Unknown said...

Just LOVELY! :D That bush is so fun! :)

Lovella ♥ said...

Heather, this post really made me want to book a vacation to visit Scotland. I was smiling at the one photo of the flower garden where Sedum and Anemone are planted side by side exactly like I have. I probably knew there was a place called Abbotsford somewhere else but is surprised me here. I wonder when you become a SuperAdult there... that's great.

elizabeth said...

wow! how very beautiful!!! breathtaking! and those flowers! so lovely! thank you so much for this post!!! We NEED beauty like this!!!

Anonymous said...

Two places I haven't been and absolutely MUST go! Thank you for that wonderful tour. I love 'superadults' too. And, for Catherine who commented above, there is a blogger called Dancing Beastie who lives in a real castle in Scotland, and occasionally writes about the challenges and pleasures of doing so.