Cherry Blossom at Lauriston Castle

 There are a number of seasonal things we try to do every year. One of them is to visit Lauriston Castle to see the cherry blossoms in the Japanese Garden. So that's where we went on Saturday. Unbeknownst to us, Saturday was actually am official Japan Sakura Cherry Blossom event at the castle, so it was a lot busier than usual! Even so, we managed to get a lot of lovely photos, most of which didn't have too many people in them! 

Outside  the Japanese Garden, the grounds of Lauriston Castle are also beautiful, with several azalea and rhododendron bushes in bloom at the moment 

There's also a lovely wooded walk round the perimeter of the castle grounds 

and views over to the Firth of Forth 

There were a good number of birds around including a pair of Bullfinches that seemed very happy to spend time close by, though only the male is in the photo below 

The Green Woodpecker was being much more elusive and though we could hear it laughing away in the trees, we couldn't see it at all.