It was tough to say good-bye to that lovely view this morning, but we knew the stay was only for one night. We just didn't know how awesome the Dryburgh Abbey Hotel would be.
Marty was able to get out in the morning to try his hand at more fly fishing, but luck was not with him. He still had fun, though, and is already planning a future trip. I'm not quite sure who is going with him, though.
Since it was nearing the end of our trip, I really didn't have any plans, but mentioned a botanical garden that was on our way, and Marty thought that was a great idea.
I'll be honest. I expected to see azaleas and rhododendrons in their full glory. But such was not the case.
In a week or two, they will certainly be amazing visitors, but not today.
However, a real gem greeted us from the gardens: Blue Poppies!
How amazing is that? My friend, Kathy, had recently made a trip to Longwood Gardens and had posted that she had seen these unusual poppies, but they were at their peak and would no longer be in bloom for us to see them in the US.
That made this find even more exciting! One of the locals mentioned that he felt that they must have been subject to frost, as they were all holding their petals downward instead of upward. What did I know? I figured they were supposed to be that way!
After all, it was my very first time seeing them.
The location of these blue beauties in in Dawyck Garden, which is now a regional garden of the Royal Botanical Garden of Edinburgh. The history goes back to the 17th century when a family by the name of Veitch began planting various species to enhance their family home. They created a woodland oases on the hillside and one can see the house through the trees that have grown all these years since.
The house changed owners several times, with each devoted to enhancing the gardens. In 1897, the Balfour family introduced North American trees, compliments of David Douglas, for whom the Douglas Fir is named. Rhododendrons from China were also brought to the estate to be planted, and most of them still stand all these years later.
Here you can see a giant Redwood, compliments of David Douglas.
A row of trees standing along the Beech walk
a wild apple tree in bloom
and several interesting ground cover florals.
Here you se a money tree standing just in front of a rhododendron on the verge of blooming.
There was a lovely stream that stretched for quite some distance, offering some lovely, tranquil views of small waterfalls along the way.
Near a bank of trees introduced to Dawyck by Douglas stands what appears to be a statue of a First Nations Figure. It is actually a carving made from a beech tree that had fallen near this spot. In 2013, a local chainsaw carver from the village of Moffit, performed his handiwork that resulted in this spectacular figure that is 8 foot high.
Before leaving, I took one last photo of a grouping of blue poppies standing in front of a rhododendron waiting to bloom.
After all, who knows when I'll have the opportunity to see another?
We headed into Peebles, just for a short walk,
and our last cream tea of the visit.
Let me just mention that is REAL clotted cream and REAL homemade strawberry jam. It was the perfect ending to the trip! Marty mentioned to Julie, the owner, how much he enjoyed the scone, and she started rambling off the recipe to him. She then asked me for my email, and told me that she'd be happy to send it to me! Now, how lucky is that?
I just checked, and sure enough, she has done just that!
We've been through Peebles several times over the years. It has to be one of the most picturesque villages sitting along the river Tweed, don't you think?
We headed to South Queensferry where we are tucked into a ground floor room on the back of Hawes Inn. No bridge view this time, but that's OK. We head out early in the morning for our flight, and watching the trains go past might be a bit distracting.
We'll just have to be satisfied with hearing them instead.
Our fabulous trip is coming to an end. I do hope that you enjoyed following along.
Until next time.....
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