Purelands Garden, Nottinghamshire
Purelands is a large, beautiful Buddhist garden in a Japanese style, situated in a Nottinghamshire village and open to the public.
Purelands
The garden has been created by a Japanese former Buddhist monk, who still runs it himself. He hopes for the garden to give visitors a sense of peaceful, harmonious being and oneness with the universe, to which Buddhist meditation leads. A meditation centre is next to the garden.
This garden shows many things which have been mentioned earlier about both Buddhist gardens and about Chinese and Japanese garden style.
- A wonderful network of winding, mysterious paths with beautiful, changing views and interesting things to look at. You can feel completely content to keep strolling round.
- Sometimes paths actually cross other paths over bridges. This is possible because artificial hills have been built to create a deliberate miniature version of Japan’s mountainous landscape. Some paths go across water on stepping stones.
- Delightful places to sit beside waterfalls and pools.
- You can buy food to feed the many koi carp in water lily pools.
- There is a Zen-style garden of rocks and gravel in one part of this large garden.
- There are displays of attractive rocks and minerals beside the paths.
- There are many stone lanterns. Paper lanterns also give illumination at night.
- The garden was deliberately intended to represent the four elements.
- Thick bushes surrounding the garden make it feel far away from the everyday world.
- The plants are a mix of Japanese plants, like Japanese maples, and common English trees and shrubs, which are cleverly topiaried so that they look Japanese.
Some people really love Purelands and want to visit again and again. It is the sort of garden which especially suits long visits because, after you’ve seen everything there, it is still most enjoyable just to keep strolling round. A place which makes you just want to stay in the present – this is the whole point of Far Eastern Buddhist gardens.
Visiting
Phone Purelands on 01777-228567 for up-to-date opening times and entry charges.
Generally open every day 10.30 am – 5.30 pm, except Mondays, between late March and late October. Candlelit evening opening in some months.
Purelands is in North Clifton, a Nottinghamshire village equally distant from Newark, Gainsborough and Lincoln.
N.B. Do not mix this Purelands up with other Buddhist centres with the same name. Purelands is a quite a common Buddhist name.
Continue reading: The Children’s Meditation Garden.