Branklyn Garden, Perth

About 25 minutes away in Perth is Branklyn Garden, which was gifted to the National Trust for Scotland in the late sixties. The garden contains over 3,500 different kinds of plants and is a lovely garden to slowly amble around, with lots of winding paths. I went specifically to look at the Rhododendron's as I have a slight passion for them, lots of fantastic gardening ideas in my head now. The camera was well used and I have put all my pictures on Flickr, enjoy.

Blossom in the Hedgerow

An interesting Beech tree trunk

Along the 'Weasel Roadie' a path which connects the Essendy road and the Dunkeld road the Hawthorn hedge is covered in glorious white blossom.

A few blogs ago I was on about Facebook, well I have now joined Our Scotland, a social network to share your love of all things Scottish, have a look.

Sizzling Sausages

Seeing as it was such a lovely morning, we thought we'd have a barbeque early evening, first one of the year. As is so typical it took ages to light, you don't want to know my mood!! and a slight breeze had got up and surprise surprise as soon as the food was put on a huge dark cloud came overhead, never mind we enjoyed it anyway.

A host of golden daffodils

Out and about today passed by a field awash with daffodils, dazzling sight.

Gorgeous flowers in my outer hallway.

I certainly can't complain about the weather of late, sunny, sunny, sunny.

The Pass of Killiekrankie and Queen's View

Queen's View

Queen's View

After my guest's had gone and everything done, we headed off to Killiecrankie, just north of Pitlochry, to the National Trust for Scotland's Visitor Centre as they were holding in conjunction with Cadbury an Easter Egg Trail. Once off the A9 it brought back many memories going along the old road before the A9 was built, we always used to stop at the Little Chef, now long gone.

As it was another lovely day we had a picnic then commenced on the trail with loads of clues to follow, it was very well done, and a chocolate egg at the end. We must have spent about three hours at the Centre, fabulous walks etc. When we left we went along to the Queen's View overlooking Loch Tummel. All the grassy areas alongside the path leading to the viewing platform were covered in cowslips just about a week away from their full glory. The view down the valley was magnificent, you could sit for ages just staring at it.

Happy Easter

An eggstremely lovely day in sunny Blairgowrie, happily munching on chocolate.

Easter Fair Pictures

A lovely sunny day today, superb for all the outdoor activities in the Wellmeadow. We went on a Treasure Hunt around some of the shops hunting for plastic ducks which had their name on them which we had to write down, thankfully we located them all.

Gold Panning

Watching the canoeists on the rapids at Grandtully

Had a little trip out today near Aberfeldy to Highland Safaris approx. 50 minutes away, take a look at their website as they do fantastic Land Rover Safaris. We had a go at gold and gem panning, it was actually great fun, spent ages doing it. Had a bite to eat in their cafe, very nice food and on the drive back we stopped to watch all the canoeists battling the rapids at Grandtully. There is a lot to look at in the aberfeldy area and it is a perfect day trip from Blairgowrie.

Easter Weekend Preview

Plenty going on at the weekend. The Blairgowrie & Rattray Easter Fair has something for all ages. A community market, pipe bands, birds of prey, music, dancing, picnic, egg hunt, painting etc and a grand Easter parade of floats through the town. Out a Clunie Village Hall, Dougie Maclean is holding 3 concerts, I have guests going to the Saturday night one. All the castles have some super Easter events on as well.

Return to Drimmie Wood

Not a bad day, so hung the washing out on the line and took a walk through Drimmie Wood as mentioned in August 2008. All in all the weather has been super, apart from yesterday, so the grass has been cut and tubs planted up and the garden is quickly coming back to life. Already have a booking in for the Open Golf at St Andrew's next year. Have had a busy weekend and a good couple of weeks coming up, must get in the chocolate supplies for Easter.