Open Garden - Alyth

Yesterday we went along to Alyth to the Lands of Loyal Hotel who had a garden open day (although you can look around the garden anytime).  As is the general theme when I attend open gardens, it rained.  Lovely gardens with superb herbaceous borders and pretty kitchen garden with an immense polytunnel where there was a pottery demonstration and a willow weaving. I particularly enjoyed the drystone wall demonstration by the new seating area being built. There were stalls, music and food in the hotel and even a fire engine parked up outside.  All the gardens open under Scotland's Garden Scheme are worth a visit and they raise money for a variety of charities.

Community Tree Cycle - near Alyth

Went out on a geocache jaunt yesterday evening around all the country roads between here and near the next town of Alyth and came across The Woodyard - Community Tree Cycle. This is a very sustainable enterprise and they even make their own charcoal which is available to buy.  Had a chat to a man, presumably the owner, who was busy making some charcoal. Great set up and there is an open day tomorrow with lots of fun activities planned.

*Update* - got a lovely e-mail from the owner who is called Clive Bowman, it was Dick who helps him run the business that I met.  Treecycle also do all sorts of work involving trees and wood, from private garden tree felling to wood fuel sales to greenwood craft activity holidays.

Diamond Jubilee

Well I couldn't not write a blog on such an historic day as Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II Diamond Jubilee.  Whatever your views on royalty, britishness etc I am glad to have experienced the celebrations as I won't be around to see another Diamond Jubilee and very unlikely my children will be either.  I enjoyed watching the Jubilee spectacular on the television and couldn't help but think maybe I shall never see such a pageant again celebrating all things British.
There was a big Jubilee Day celebration in Blairgowrie on Sunday with a great turnout and here are a few photos of that day and a couple of photos from today with a jubilee theme. 

Beatrix Potter Garden - Birnam, Dunkeld

Walking back down from the train station we spent some time in the enchanting garden dedicated to the famous author Beatrix Potter.  She spent many childhood holidays in the area and inspiration for many of her characters in her books came from these memories. Worth a wander around and the sculptures are great.

The 'Brave' Express

As you may know I am a Twitter user, I picked up on one of the streams today about Visit Scotland taking a train from Edinburgh to Dunkeld called the Brave Express.  Basically it was a day out for journalists, Disney people and other tourism related people and was a big promotion for the area.  It is all to do with a film which is being released in August called 'Brave'  by Disney : Pixar, so naturally there is a big promotion push for Scotland.
So for reasons only known to me I went to have a look at the train arriving. So watched some pipers and watched lots of people get off a train and onto buses to take them around Perthshire sights. 
Well anyhow the railway station at Dunkeld in Birnam is worth visiting just for it's gem of architectural Victorian features.  I hope the film Brave brings the whole of Scotland the increase in visitor numbers they are expecting and doesn't just have a huge spin-off for certain areas of Scotland - remember us here in East Perthshire!