After strawberry picking in Dahu, we then spent our late morning at Miaoli Lavender Cottage (熏衣草森林-苗栗明德店）, which is under an hour’s drive away from Dahu Wineland Resort. One of 3 branches, Miaoli Lavender Cottage is where lavenders and salvia are grown in little gardens. A purple floral ‘wonderland’ of sorts with a restaurant and cafe to dine in or chill out. The gloomy weather, however, coupled with light drizzle hampered our photo-taking attempts.
The admission charge of NT$100 can be used to offset food and beverage or gift shop purchases. Hence it’s essentially free to visit if any purchase is made; a clever way to encourage patronage and spending.
The lavender season runs from late December to February. The purple blooms were sparse but a faint floral scent filled the air. Honestly, I had expected a more expansive stretch of lavender plants.
If your kids like rubber stamping just like mine does, bring along a little notebook. There are many places like this which has pretty designs for CL to collect.
We climbed stone steps up the hill in one corner of the garden to take in the view from higher up. You can ring the bell atop the summit and make a wish. Or pen down the wishes on little leaf-shaped papers, hang them up and hope that they come true. This little ritual was amazingly therapeutic. Adorable CL wrote on her wish of ‘Come back to Taiwan again’, even though our trip has just started.
One side of the Lavender Cottage faces a lake. There are seats and benches, making it a nice spot to while away the day when the weather is pleasant.
You can buy a Lavender Cottage postcard at the gift shop, pen your messages and they will send it to the address free-of-charge. Do be patient as it takes 20 days for international delivery.
Craft-lovers may be delighted to know there’s a little DIY corner. Patrons can purchase the materials required from the neatly-stocked DIY corner and create the chosen craft-work in the Forest Workshop. Luckily our craft-loving duo was too eager to get to Flying Cow Ranch and hence did not request to do any.
Enjoyed lunch at the restaurant. As we do not have voracious appetites, the portions of the main course served were good enough for 2 to 3 of us. A glance around us showed that most guests were also sharing their main courses.
Even the plain water served also had a slight lavender scent, which was great for us ladies but to the horror of DL, CL and Dad.
Here’s what we had for lunch. Do note that there is a additional 10% service charge on top of the menu price. Prices below are before the offset from the admission tickets.
Mushroom and vegetable hotpot (NT$420)
The mildly spicy Laksa seafood hotpot (NT$460)
Waffles with lavender flavoured ice cream and fruits (NT$260)
Lavender favoured milk tea. (NT$190). We were expecting a single cup and pleasantly surprised when a small pot full of tea was served.
Then we’re off to Flying Cow Ranch.
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Read more about our trip itinerary and the other places we visited during the trip in Taiwan 2016 – Family Trip Itinerary.
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Useful information
Miaoli Mingde Lavender Cottage
There are a total of 3 Lavender Cottages, with the first one in Taichung Sinshe. Besides this one in Miaoli, there’s another one in Hsinchu.
Address: 66-2 Renlung, Mingde Village, Touwu Township, Miaoli 362, Taiwan
Opening hours:10.30am to 6pm (Mon to Fri), 10.00am to 6.30pm (Sat & Sun)
Web information (official webpage in Chinese): http://www.lavendercottage.com.tw
Facebook page (in Chinese): https://www.facebook.com/pg/lavender2001/