At the beginning of April, I had a chance to visit the Chiba area and stopped by this place, which I had been curious about since I suddenly learned about it.
Dreaming Place Rose Garden
It is an English-style garden with a cafe and an antique shop. As the appeal of English gardening that makes the most of the natural beauty of the country became widely known, a circle of like-minded people began to grow, and not only individuals enjoying gardening but also commercialized tourist gardens like this one can be seen here and there.
This garden is located 15 minutes from the Kimitsu Interchange on the Tateyama Expressway, somewhat deep in the Boso mountains area. According to the website, the couple who moved here from Tokyo cultivated the land from scratch as their private residence, and it took them 18 years to bring it to its current state.
However, if you visit the garden with the preconceived notion that it is a handmade garden in a private residence, you will be surprised by its magnificent gate.
The garden is far larger than one might imagine, if not “sprawling” and allows one to enjoy the “unspoiled beauty of nature” from a variety of angles. I am an amateur, but I am in awe when I imagine the amount of energy that goes into maintaining these gardens.
There was a spectacular white flower, perhaps a type of cherry blossom. As usual, I don’t know its name…
A red flower that blooms beautifully in the spring sunlight, and I don’t know its….
In addition to this large garden and a café/antique store that caters to women’s tastes, Dreaming Place Rose Garden has another major feature,
They have cats.
The cats that wander into the garden from the mountains or are left in the parking lot by heartless owners are rescued and made to live in this garden.
According to the list I was given, there are more than 10 cats living in this garden in bloom as of this day. I saw four cats that day. They seemed to be living a life of their own, meddling with and being meddled with by the owners, employees, and visitors when they feel like it.
The cats were not very welcoming when I pointed my camera at them, perhaps because I could sense their nervousness about being photographed by unfamiliar creatures, but one cat was rather tolerant. Thank you, Sika (♀).
No, I don’t think I’d call this look “tolerant” (smiles).
Normally, this cat likes to climb up to high places, but perhaps the warmth of the sun was comforting on this day.
So, that was my visit to the Dreaming Place Rose Garden in the mountains of the Boso Peninsula. If I have a chance to visit there again, I would like to take pictures of roses and cats, aiming at the time when the Rose Garden is overflowing with roses.
