Let’s continue the gallivanting for another couple of posts before I settle back into this week’s happenings…..After all the excitement of the parades, we opted for a quiet Saturday afternoon in the Edinburgh Botanic Gardens. Still enjoying the most glorious weather, a visit to the Botanics was hardly required….the meadows were all green with floating blossom on a gentle breeze; and walking the streets was a visual delight – all ceanothus and clematis, honeysuckle and lilac.
But; I have long wanted to visit the Queen Mother’s Memorial Garden, which I recall reading about when it was completed in 2006. Something in the article suggested I had to visit, but I couldn’t remember why it was so compelling…it was just one of those mental ‘must-do’s’. And then we arrived; and the reason was all too clear! What do you suppose lies at the heart of the garden?Nothing less than…. A LABYRINTH!!! With my complete obsession – how could I have forgotten? Planted with bog myrtle, the shape is based upon the motif of the historic Eassie Cross near Glamis Castle where the Queen Mother grew up.
But that’s not all. I know the Queen Mother was meant to be hopelessly romantic, and the designer of the garden, Lachie Stewart of Anta Architectural (whose work I SO admire), has managed to capture all her sentimentality, from choice of plants to the tablets of Caithness stone commemorating various charities close to her heart. But the focal point behind the labyrinth, to my great delight, is a stone pavillion, whose interior is decorated in the manner of a grotto……with a roof of cones laid out in geometric formation (above), while the walls are of patterns laid out in shells, with the odd tile incorporating a thistle, or the letters ER.
This reminded me of when we visited the Castle of Mey some years ago….its right on the sea, and a collection of found objects, including sea shells, were sitting seemingly where the Queen Mother had left them after a good brisk walk along the shore…
What a divinely sentimental tribute to the Queen Mother…..I would SO like to visit again…