The Japanese Garden at Cowden – A Stroll and Lunch
A few hours.
The route
The Japanese Garden at Cowden was made for the traveller Ella Christie after a journey to Japan, and she named it Sha Raku En, the place of pleasure and delight.
Wide gravel paths circle a big pond with its bridges, a pavilion and a thatched summer house, with benches all the way round. Lunch is in the garden's own tearoom, on the level beside the entrance. It's an unhurried morning, and an easy one for grandparents.
Before you go
Book accommodation nearby
If you are staying over: here are ours nearest where the day starts and ends.
The nearest of ours is Cromlix, 13 miles away.
Book Entry to the Japanese Garden at Cowden
Book a timed entry ticket on the garden's website for about 10.30am: it's open every day but Tuesday until late October, then Wednesday to Sunday until late March, from £10.90 for an adult at the time of writing, and tickets can't be refunded or changed.
The day
Cowden
It's a quiet morning at the foot of the Ochils, walking slowly round a Japanese stroll garden and its pond. Lunch is in the tearoom by the gate, so nobody has far to go.
About two and a half hours
The Japanese Garden at Cowden
An attraction
The garden is just off the A91 between Dollar and Muckhart, and it asks you not to follow a sat nav, which sends cars up a narrow back road. Stay on the A91 and turn onto Upper Hillfoot Road half a mile west of Muckhart, where it's signposted. Park in the garden's own car park, with disabled bays at the top and a step-free but sloping gravel path to the door. Tickets are for an arrival time, so book online ahead: from £10.90 for an adult at the time of writing. Ella Christie had the burn, or stream, dammed into a pond after her travels in Japan in 1907 and 1908, and the designer Taki Handa laid out the garden. It was vandalised in the 1960s and is being brought back to life with the help of the Japanese garden designer Professor Masao Fukuhara. The walk round the pond takes about 45 minutes, past the zig-zag and arched bridges, the azumaya, or pavilion, over the water and the stone lanterns, and there are benches all the way. The paths are loose gravel and slope in places, so a manual wheelchair needs someone to push, and the zig-zag bridge is too narrow for one. The garden lends a wheelchair free if you email ahead. Dogs on leads may walk the woodland and lawns but not the Japanese garden itself. From late October to late March the garden closes at 4pm and shuts on Mondays as well as Tuesdays, and it shuts altogether over Christmas and New Year.
The tearoom at the Japanese Garden at Cowden
Lunch
The tearoom is in the main building beside the entrance, so lunch is where the walk ends, level all the way. It serves lunches and home baking made in house, with vegetarian, vegan and gluten-free choices and a large-print menu. There's no booking: it's first come, first served, with last food orders at 3pm in winter and 4pm in summer. Children are welcome.
If it rains
In rain the azumaya and the summer house give shelter on the way round, and the tearoom is indoors; in severe weather the garden can close at short notice, so check its page before setting out.
Where to stay