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A HIDDEN gem tourist attraction in the Wee County could receive city deal support if its business case is approved.
The Japanese Garden at Cowden could receive £750,000 of Stirling and Clackmannanshire City Region Deal funding with representatives yesterday meeting to approve the support as the Advertiser went to print.
Representatives of the City Deal Joint Committee, comprising of members from Clacks and Stirling councils as well as Stirling University, will hear how much of the project’s activity has already been undertaken and how visitor numbers have been exceeding expectations.
Restoration at the garden, originally commissioned in 1908 but later ripped apart by vandals in 1963, has been ongoing since 2014.
Investment – as part of the culture, heritage and tourism element of the city deal – is needed to help develop the infrastructure and permanent facilities required for the continued operation of what committee papers called a “ unique new tourism offer for Clackmannanshire”.
Documents detailed how those behind the project have “spent at risk” to complete the restoration, including the ceremonial tea house, gardens, pathways and more.
The garden could feed into the city deal’s inclusive skills ecosystem with at least 500 volunteering, learning and work experience projects each year as well as 30 jobs sustained.
Employment opportunities will be considered for people on a journey to employment.
It is also hoped the Japanese Garden could hold at least 10 special events each year, such as weddings and festivals, to help showcase the natural assets of the region and build repeat tourism.
Decision makers were to be told yesterday about the better than expected visitor numbers and revenues at the garden as well.
Last year, the garden hoped to welcome 10,000 paying visitors, but the figure was already at 38,000 by September 2021.
According to the meeting papers, nearly nine out of ten visitors came from outside of Clackmannanshire, showing that the garden has been successful in attracting visitors to the area.
Documents added: “City Region Deal investment is needed to help develop the infrastructure and permanent facilities required for the continued operation of this unique new tourism offer for Clackmannanshire.”
The garden was created in 1908 by pioneering Scottish explorer Ella Christie.
She was the first woman to travel from the West to meet the Dalai Lama and one of the first women to be elected a Fellow of the Royal Geographic Society.
Inspired by her solo travels to Japan, she chose a female designer – the gifted Taki Handa – to create the seven-acre site in the grounds of Cowden Castle.
In doing so, The Japanese Garden at Cowden became the first and only garden of its size and scale to be designed by a woman.
The unique attraction was almost lost forever when it was destroyed by vandals but the restoration has seen the involvement of world-class experts, including the renowned Japanese architect and garden designer Professor Masao Fukuhara.
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