The Lingering Garden

The Lingering Garden is a taxi ride outside the town moat. it has good parking nearby so it is another stop on the majoro tours. We went on a Sunday and it was chocka, consequently I have very few pictures around the lake as I was trying to photograph the garden rather than the hordes of people most of whom seemed to be wearing red. The visit exhibited the chinese tourists at their most irritating. They don't take pictures of the things they are looking at but of themselves with them, without really looking at the object. This applies equally to statues in a museum but in the gardens involves  pulling down any branch in blossom to pose kissing it and hugging rocks. They scramble  over fences erected to keep them off the planting and climb all over the ancient rocks photographing themselves next to the signs saying no climbing. The National Trust would have a heart attack. However after you passed through the first two crowded garden "rooms" you entered another suite of gardens hidden behind a pavilion. These consisted of orchard and bonsai areas and a peony garden. They were nearly deserted, the coach parties barely penetrated.
The garden was built in 1593 and has been restored, not least after being used as a horse breeding ground in the Sino-Japanese war. The garden must have had a slightly milder micro-climate than those in town as spring was more advanced with more blossom out and peonies in obvious bud, one even in bloom. I was particularly taken with the paths mosaiced in pebbles.