Cowden Japanese Garden 29th & 30th March, 2025

The Japanese Garden project, directed by Sara Stewart asked us back again after a gap of several years, having previously helped to reline a water channel, reinstate boulders at the end of the artificial lake and rebuild a derelict wall at the other end of the Garden.
Now, much changed, the Gardens are open to the public and very busy.

This time we were asked if we could place a dry stone facing against and hiding the block wall at the base of a new building. On arrival we found a large pile of demolition stone from Tradstocks- some huge, some concrete. Jim Grant declared it ‘a disaster’. A small section had been completed by Calum but Sara wanted it removed as it was all ‘too green’. She is restricted to some extent by her Japanese advisors on the style of structures in the garden.
We attempted to retrieve the situation and were helped by volunteers from the garden particularly with barrowing from pile to site . Being unable to lock the stone from behind, it needed to be flat bedded to be stable. This meant that the estate stone was deemed unsuitable.

Jim Grant and Gregor Smart helped us complete about 10sq m. Also present on Saturday and Sunday was Lucy C. and her mother joined in on Sunday. Richard P. came all the way from Banchory on Sunday. Potentially, nearly 2/3 of the job was completed and the management hope that the volunteers will be able to complete - but will the Japanese Garden designer approve?

Trish Waite