Tatton Japanese Garden

I've had an absolutely splendid day.
I have been to Tatton Park to attend a lecture on how the Japanese Garden was created and constructed in 1910. Then how it was refurbished with the help of Japanese academics and gardeners in 2000. This was done largely by cutting back 80 years of growth and rebuilding and refurbishing some of the wooden buildings found underneath the rhododendrons. The refurbishment now needs doing again and plans are underway to start as soon as the leaves have fallen.

The really interesting bit was how the Japanese view of the garden differs from ours. As our guide, Simon Tetlow was to tell us, the Japanese way is to think in terms of art, shape, form, abstracts, poetry and anything else you can think of, and then plants. The plant is there to enhance the space created unlike an English garden wherein the plant is the whole point. It has to be said that Tatton is regarded as the best Japanese Garden in Europe, but it is nowhere near a real Japanese Garden.

We were allowed access into the garden itself which is normally out of bounds. However, since the Japanese will look into the space rather than want to go into the space, that is the proper way to see it. Trying to photograph any of it was really hard - too many people, and the light and contrast was so fierce - in what would otherwise be termed a perfect day.