It Was A Beautiful Day,

sunny with hardly a cloud in the sky,

 I made my way through the park,

 passing some of the house in the park,

 I was on my way to meet Steve,

 having seen this, I must put it in my diary,

 in the distance the mansion,

 and there is Steve,

 today it was a cat show and food fest,

 at the side of the mansion the bar is now open,

 so another alternative to the club on a Friday night for Steve and myself,

 a quick look at some of the food stalls,

 lots to chose from,

 catering for all tastes,

 there was even a ice cream stall,

 and a pity that Diana was at work, as this stall was selling Filipino food,

 I am sure Diana would have bought some,

there were a number of outdoor stalls, one of the popular ones was face painting children,

 undercover there was a cat themed sales area and show, we tried to get in, but evidently you had to buy tickets online, tickets for walk in customers were sold out, so that was it then, 

 in any event the day seemed popular,

 with families taking advantage of the shade under the huge trees that are in the park,

 now this guy on the right had a great idea, a inflatable sun lounger, neat,

 we continued our way to the lake,

 but first a slight detour,

 to what was the stables for the mansion,

 and the gardens next to them,

 knowing that we are going back to the lavender farm it was interesting to see this variety of lavender in flower,

 but this one in the next bed still in bud,

 Steve's favourite, bamboo, 

 unfortunately slaughtered by the gardener, all of the tops had been trimmed off, giving the grass a completely unnatural look,

 it was one of the yellow stemmed varieties,

 work still continuing on the site, being finished by June 1st was never going to happen,

 how to get around the summer time UK hose pipe ban, put them underground, so that no one can see them!

 this rose bush on the right looked rather splendid,

 just full of colour,

 more work continuing in the distance,

 and seats put in for when the garden is in flower,

I was intrigued by this tree,

 with its aged gnarled trunk, I thought it might be a Mulberry tree,  

 on to the lake,

 which is filling up nicely,

 I said goodbye to Steve who returned home,

 I made my way downhill,

 passing this huge fir tree,

 on some of its branches what I am guessing will be pine cones, 

 other branches with no cones,

 I was off to Hombase to buy a few odds and ends,

 on the way down lighting had been put in place,in the next few weeks there is going to be an open air concert, so I guess there are there for that,

 the Gate House nearly renovated,

 and here I was,

 Homebase,

 as I walked in, I noticed these bar-b-qs,

 I had always thought they were several hundreds of pounds for super huge ones like these, but evidently not,

 a quick look at the orchids and I was in, bought what I needed and out again,

 to look at some of the plants on sale,

 these lilies,

 looking rather nice,

 as was the blaze of colour from this display of Begonia betulia,

 cockscomb, (Celosia cristata), as always looking so unusual, 

 the trays of bedding plants seemingly going on forever,

 and then a rack of an old favourite, 

 dahlias, 

 there were also a number of unusual plants here like these,

 a few more shelves of plants,

 and some hanging baskets and I was on my way,

 to Waitrose for some food shopping,

the plant section not as big as Hombase which is to be expected, provisions bought and I was on my way home, in the evening I played upstairs moving bits and pieces up there, slowly unpacking the boxes from our previous home in Thailand, in the late evening I walked down to meet Diana after finishing her work and we walked home, then a quick nightcap and we were off to bed.