We walked past St Leonards-in-the-Fields Church, with it’s impressive spire, to meet Martin and Grace at Blend Coffee. After a good cup of espresso, we walked across the River Tay (the largest volume river in the UK) and on by car to Branklyn Garden. Once a private garden, now owned by The National Trust for Scotland, it was an impressive display of rare plants, including many varieties of Rhododendron and Himalayan poppies.

Scone Palace was our next stop, primarily for lunch. In the grounds, 38 Kings of Scots were crowned, the last in 1651.The stone of scone, on which the early kings were crowned, is now in Edinburgh Castle. The grounds contained a “pinetum” which contained many Douglas Firs. David Douglas was a gardener at Scone before travelling to the Americas as a botanist, bringing back seeds and introducing the species (and many others) to Britain. A plaque referred to his canoe capsizing at Fort George (now Prince George, B.C.) He later died in Hawaii, under mysterious circumstances.