Mom's New Mission: Recreate this Garden!

I walked the Royal Mile today from top to bottom... to top again.  It's a brilliant day, very cloudy with pockets of bright blue.  It'll start to rain and get all dismal and then suddenly it will be bright and sunny and gorgeous again.  The Mile is crowded and noisy with tourists, locals, the usual bagpipe player, and some street acts.  I have plenty of pictures that will show up in other posts, but this post is dedicated to one little place that I found: Dunbar Garden's Close.

Dunbar Garden's Close is a ways down the Royal Mile toward HolyRood Palace.  It isn't very grandly advertised and I almost missed it (I was distracted by a twinkly Christmas shop that came right before).  However, it is an amazing little garden tucked away off of the Mile, quiet and pretty.

And it made me think of you, Mom.  This is your new mission for the back yard at the farm!!!

 I love all the stone and ivy in this place!  I also like how neat and separated each little patch of garden is.  So organized...

However, this place was also not so neat and tidy that you felt like you couldn't touch it or walk in it.  It was well worn and just run down enough that it felt real.

 Brilliant old tree!

 Every time I thought I'd found the end of the garden, there was another little gateway, path, corner, set of stairs, or arch that led somewhere new.  So much character!  Mom?  Are you looking?  Will you grow one for me back at home? You know you want to!

 And then there were rooftops rising up above the garden... It was just so picturesque.  People actually live next to this garden! I know because I saw them through a window as I walked by.  And then I felt like an annoying tourist so I walked a little faster...

I know that the UK is chock full of these little gardens, but this is the first one I've been in, and I love it!

 Super high stone walls... definitely made me want to figure out what was on the other side.

 I don't quite know why, but the sculpted bushes kept making me think of Alice in Wonderland. Which is weird because I don't even like Alice in Wonderland.


They were really cool though.

 I also appreciated how many big, spreading trees there were throughout the garden.  Some of the plots were open to the sun, but others were shaded by these big, leafy trees.

And there were hedges! I couldn't quite decide whether the big, ivy covered stone walls or the thick hedges were my favorite.

 The garden had that two level effect too!  There were stairs leading down to a lower level and back up to the higher level.

Lots of shrubberies too....

So much green!  I love it!  I just wanted to sit in here and read a book. The benches were wet from the last rain, but still...


This post is for you, Mom.  I hope you are inspired!


And did you see him?  Yep, Nap came with me.  He was very sneaky though...