Our summer holiday celebration in 2019 was extended for another week. And this time to a place that will remind you of Japan more than the United Kingdom - a Japanese garden!
I thought the day-out in Skegness Beach the week before was our last hurrah for the summer of 2019. But, a text message from a friend to my wife inviting us to go to this Japanese garden extended the celebration. Curious as we have not been to a Japanese garden before, we accepted the invite.
'Pure Land' Japanese garden and meditation centre is located in the Nottinghamshire village of North Clifton, near Newark. It is less than an hour-and-a-half drive from Peterborough.
This award-winning Japanese garden is created and ran by Buddha Maitreya, who is Japanese, and whose main aim in creating the garden was 'to provide a peaceful, beautiful area which guests and visitors to the centre could enjoy.' While we enjoyed the beautiful garden I do not think our group had a peaceful time while there. We were a 17-strong contingent from Peterborough, half of which are teenagers!
Maitreya has no experience in gardening and so he created the garden by feeling his way along. And what a beautiful garden he made, creating a miniature Japan in his two-acre property. Among its features are the pond, Zen garden, and Japanese Tea House. And I notice English plants and elements, too! This Japanese garden has a Western twist. But before entering the main garden, we went to a room containing a crystal garden, the world's first!
Unfortunately, our visit was cut short by sudden rains that has been threatening all morning. But we had a great time.
As it was lunchtime, our group decided to drive to Nottingham, an hour's drive away from the garden, to have our lunch. We could not join the rest of the group to lunch in an eat-all-you-can place due to our sons' food allergies so we ended up in that fastfood restaurant famous for 'lovin it, again, as we always do.
More info: Pure Land
All photos were taken with a micro four thirds camera (https://amzn.to/2K8BUl6) attached with a telephoto zoom lens (https://amzn.to/2YvqiMJ).
