Exploring Scotland: The Japanese Gardens

I love finding out about a beautiful place and the Japanese Garden at Cowden is no exception. I’m not sure how I found out about it, which annoys me but I’m really happy I found out about it. Residing in Dollar, Clackmannanshire, The Japanese Garden has a really simple history behind it, in the 20th century inspired by a recent trip she had taken, Scottish adventurer Ella Christie decided to build a Japanese Garden. She enlisted the help of a female design, Taki Handa, and the result was a seven-acre site on the grounds of Cowden Castle. As a result, the garden is the first and only garden of its size to be designed by a woman. You can find out so much about the history and more recent happenings of the garden by visiting the website. 

Exploring Scotland: Isle of Arran

I genuinely cannot believe it's been so long since I've written a blog post, I definitely got caught up in my BookTube channel and studying. I've completed my Master's degree now and at the moment I am on a break from YouTube (I took time off to write my dissertation) and I really wanted to share these photos I took when I visited Arran back in July. 

We drove from Glasgow (I actually managed to drive us partway there) to the Ardrossan Ferry Terminal and got the ferry to Arran for about 11am. We had no real plans other than to just wander around and sometimes have no plans is just my favourite way to explore places. We ended up driving to Blackwaterfoot which is a village in Arran. It was so lovely to be so close to the sea, I know the last time I was near a sea before that was in Italy when I was visiting my friend in Latina. It was a pretty mild day when we went, it was raining in the morning but tapered off to a drizzle and then nothing in the afternoon. 

Exploring Scotland: The Kelpies

I mentioned in my Edinburgh post that between moving and everything else I felt like I had abandoned my blog. I have quickly realised that this is very much true (blame, my BookTube channel) but also that I never officially mentioned that I was moving on the blog. I moved from London to Scotland in September to study for my masters and it’s been a whirlwind! I live in a quiet old town in a flat beside a beautiful river and I get to study the one industry I’m totally passionate about – publishing!

Exploring Scotland: Edinburgh

I know it feels like I’ve abandoned this blog but it’s just been the moving thing and the studying thing that has thrown me out of sync! I had a skincare blog post planned for such a long time (the photos have been ready for over two months) but I just haven’t managed to get myself to write anything about it! Anyway, today I wanted to share a couple of photos from a trip to Edinburgh at the end of October, my friend and I went there during our reading week to explore and see what the city had to say! I had never been to Edinburgh before that except to get off at the station and get a train or a tram. So it was time to see what all the sites were saying in the capital city.