We are really lucky to have the beautiful Benmore Botanical Garden on our doorstep (well, a mere 20 minutes drive down the road). We dragged mum and dad out for a morning as mum loves a garden. As we arrived our stomachs were rumbling and the little food truck just inside the gate looking seriously good. We all ordered hot sandwiches and wraps, which came with salad and amazing seasoned fries.
Whilst we waited for our food we looked round the lovely gift shop and assessed the prices for entry. With John being a canny Yorkshireman he decided the most cost effective thing would be to sign up for the annual membership so what we could visit as often as we wanted.
It is a mountainside garden, so there are a lot of winding, climbing paths to explore. Mum and dad are obviously older and so we were limited on how much climbing we could do, so we didn't reach the view point at the very top of the garden. But, we did see the amazingly lush and humid, and the amazing golden gates, the moss garden and the walled garden. It is all very lovely, but we just a shade too early for the rhododendrons.
And, so, we returned a month later in May to see the spectacle of the rhododendron show. It was spectacular. I've never seen such a huge variety of colours and sizes...and the smell was heavy and sweet throughout the whole garden.
One of the great things about Argyll and Bute is, for whatever reason, tourists just don't seem to know it exists. So even on a sunny day, in the height of peak blooms, we honestly met one other couple in the garden although we were there for well over and hour and half.
The garden is so huge we have still only seen a fraction of it, so we'll try to go back for the next season and can't wait for autumn colours too!
Comments