FlowerFriday

Hard to find flowers outside now but I discovered these beauties in the Lost Garden of Penicuik

The lost garden of Penicuik

The prompt on Artful Adventures Stroll through the Hood today was: old. I think a walled garden dating from the 18th Century qualifies! The garden is part of the Penicuik Estate but run by a different group of volunteers. At the moment they mainly grow potatoes that are sold at Penicuik Market

This is the bridge you have to cross to get to the garden. Love the pattern but it is in dire need of restoration 

And here is Flora making her unexpected appearance in the picture

Here is the link for the project:

http://nathaliesstudio.com/learn/online-workshops/artful-adventures-stroll-challenge/

Lost Garden of Penicuik

We had a rather dramatic start to the dog walk in the Penicuik Estate, that involved one dog running off  from the car park while we were left in charge of an English Bulldog. All ended well although I had to remove Flora from the scene while it was all going on as she was not too keen on making the acquaintance of the bulldog, so I decided to investigate the Lost Garden of Penicuik. I knew it was there but had somehow never investigated further. You can read more about the history of this place by following this link. It is the New Garden as opposed to the Old Garden that has featured on my blips before as it can be seen from the paths in the Estate. The New Garden (also walled, just like the Old one) was established in the 1870s as the location of the Old Gardens proved to be too cold.

It must have been an utterly magnificent place in it's heyday, but sadly had fallen into disrepair till the Penicuik Community Development Trust took it on in 2012 and started on what they call a 50 year plan.  Originally it was part of the Penicuik Estate.

This fountain is now looking sad and overgrown but in my imagination I could just about envision it spraying water high into the air and it gently dropping back into this lovely basin.

As for the entrance gates, they are a work of art. A return visit will be on the cards very soon, once the growing season is a bit more advanced. There are many more treasures to be found there and I'll return with my Canon in tow. All very inspirational.