The Japanese Garden at Cowden — Attraction in Scotland

This is a beautiful place, well looked after and lovely to walk around. I'm a historic houses member but even if I was to pay the normal admission price, it's worth it.

There's a few things that would make this 5 star.

Firstly there is a sign in Dollar town centre that says for Japanese Garden follow the A91 however it is very obscure and hard to see with where it's positioned, this needs to be better or additional signs needed within Dollar itself. Once you get by the town centre and along the A91 then signage is fine.

There is a very strange setup with the ticket office/cafe. You can go through to the cafe from the ticket office and is blocked with a bit of rope. So after getting my ticket I have to go back out climb under the rope and loop round to then get to the cafe, as I had asked to buy a bottle of water. When getting to the cafe desk I was then told I have to buy the bottle of water from the side of the front reception/ticket office desk. So I make the purchase there and then go back to the cafe desk to acquire the bottle of water. Turns out it's a glass bottle of water for £2. I said that I'm not comfortable taking this glass bottle of water out on a walk with me and went back to my car to get my reusable bottle in order to decant the glass into it. Not sure why it's glass bottles of water you have and as a result £2 is pretty steep for a small bottle. Maybe an option would be to let people fill their own water bottles with tap water would be a good solution?

There could potentially be colour coded routes with signage to indicate a shorter and longer walking route with the longer one directing people to the woodland area with the playground and down to the dead end hydro electric section towards the castle.

I love all the sections, for example the woodland area has themed areas that will say to make a boat out of piece of bark and wooden stick with a leaf as a sail to head down the stream. Also an area that was destroyed by Storm Arwen (I believe) and is now a repurposed area of fairy houses with allot of creativity with houses carved into the tree trunks. All of these little details as well as the main area with the Japanese garden are what make this special compared to other places.

Looking forward to coming back again, I'll just make sure I have a full water...

We were returning from doing the NC500 to Salisbury in southern England, so had a 9.5 hour drive. Nonetheless, we split it early with an over 3 hour stop here - and it was worth it!

This is the best example of a Japanese stroll garden I have visited in Britain, and I could easily believe - looking out over the lake - that I was somewhere in Japan whilst here. The authenticity and genuineness of the place is pretty much flawless. There is a calming tranquility about the place that, even in the rain and wind which had originally frustrated me, could not be ignored. I simply did not want to leave, and I feel that is the best review I can give of the garden itself. It simply must be experienced.

The cafe is small, with a fairly generic selection of toasted sandwiches, cakes, hot drinks, etc. I would not say there was much wrong with it, nor much outstanding. The prices, whilst relatively normal for a garden like this, seem high compared to most of the "real" world.

The gift shop is small, but perfectly complimentary of the vibe. There is no generic nonsense, with everything relating to Japanese culture and the mentality of it which links to their gardens. This included, when we were there, Japanese gardening tools and a book, origami and Ikebana supplies, Japanese koi kites, thematic postcards (including sets with haikus), and other...

Amazing wee place, I left with zero anxiety or stress. It is very well kept and easy to navigate. There are a few wee bridges you can cross the water and stepping stones, both are awesome. All the ornaments and decorations, are well kept. Nature is happy to be there with some rare ducks, we saw a red squirrel and lots of other wildlife. The gardens, I can't speak high enough of them. There is a cabin that has the history of the gardens and it is very interesting. There is a few different sections/walks you can do and I recommend doing them all! Definitely book in advance, whilst it can be annoying, the lower numbers of people add a certain Zen that only adds to the atmosphere. the other wee trails are all very interesting with the owls wishing tree and the small village made from tree stumps.(The trees fell during storm arwen). The only gripe, and I mean the only thing I can moan about is; there are three toilets in reception, 1 male and two female!! This created a bit of a queue but since the toilets are all the same apart from the signs on the door, everyone was using them all. Maybe replace the male and female signs with just generic toilet signs.

Don't let this take anything away from it though, the price, the booking, the condition and atmosphere were...