Tuscany comes to Scotland

Warm today, but bearable! We visited Dalkeith Country Park, to the east of Edinburgh, had a picnic in the Restoration Yard - the one-time estate stables - and a wander around the park with its views across to Dalkeith Palace.

The Restoration Yard now contains a café, a shop and plenty of places to sit out. The planting is supposed to reflect a garden in Tuscany, but whatever it does there are some good plants there. Opposite is a wonderful old Victorian Orangery, now unglazed but due to be renovated sometime. 

Lots of fun things for kids - Go Ape, an Adventure Park and other Family Fun stuff!

Down at the edge of the South Esk river, park staff were pulling out Himalayan Balsam - see extra. I had a good chat with them and pulled up a balsam plant in a show of solidarity!

We didn't have time to go on to the Amisfield walled garden - another day. We did call in to Dobbies Garden Centre as I wanted to buy a packet of glasshouse shading which none of the Oban garden centres had in stock. The man in the relevant section told me that he had never heard of it and tried to sell me something to paint my shed instead. The lady on the helpdesk had never heard of it either even though she found a product on the Internet! I told her I would buy it online and left her to it! I've painted it on greenhouses for fifty years - has it gone out of fashion!

(When we returned to our daughter's flat I checked the Dobbies website and surprise, surprise - it was in stock at the branch we visited!)