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. :)

Spring at the Indianapolis Museum of Art

For the last twenty years my family has been enjoying visits to the grounds of the Indianapolis Museum of Art. In fact, visits have become somewhat of a tradition. So, it was difficult for us to accept the fact that the IMA is now charging pretty exorbitant entrance fees. When Andrew's school organized a field trip in April I jumped on an inexpensive way to pay a visit!

April and May are the best months for this lovely garden.

It's always fun to run around and pretend this is "our" house:

It's so easy for the imagination to work in these surroundings:

View of Oldfields from the back:

Down the path -- this was April 16 and not much was blooming yet.

But there were beautiful tulips in the planters:

The kids really do not enjoy posing for pictures at all.

Laura will cooperate a bit:

Our big five year old:

This is one of my favorite bushes -- I think there is only one in the garden and the timing of its blooms is very hard to catch. Such a treat to catch it this year!

And the magnolia was incredible:

More picture opportunities:

Picnic in the grass:

Had to bring along the hot water so we could have tea to keep us warm!!!

Another beautiful vista:

And I love this -- sort of Pride and Prejudice like:

James had a little game with a squirrel:

"Chase me around the tree":

"There you are":

Another view of the magnolia:

The one saving grace about the new entrance fees is that there is one afternoon/evening a month that is free of charge (first Thursday of each month from 4-9pm). I put the dates on my calendar and we managed to all make it to the grounds for a picnic dinner on May 7. It seemed we had the whole place to ourselves! (I was sure it would be packed.)

There is always a picture on the stone:

The rhododendrons were beautiful:

The kids wanted to tour Oldfields first so in we went. I always love the silver tea service in the dining room.

And I was so excited that we could view the new silver exhibit upstairs!

What a change in three short weeks in the garden down the walk:

Look at those azaleas!

They were shockingly beautiful!

A view back up to Oldfields:

And around the path to the fountain garden:

Some really tall tulips:

The kids still had energy so into the museum we went:

Rachel and I walked around the dress exhibit while the boys devoted their time to the new cars exhibit.

One of my favorites, of course!

Rachel and I loved this display of American clothing through the centuries. It would be so fun to make dolls for each era.

And we had to run through the car exhibit too, just so we didn't miss anything. This is the new 7-seater vehicle I need to drive our family around!

It was a very memorable evening, a rare occurrence around here with everyone's schedules going somewhere different. Now I'm looking forward to another visit some Thursday later on in the summer!