Day Twelve, The First Of Two Nights At Burton On The Water

just 165 miles to Bourton on the Water,

but first breakfast, 

as it was included in the nights stay,

and a couple of photographs of the hotel guest area,

which was nicely laid out, 

then on the road again, now that phrase sounds familiar and it was, the song On The Road Again, recorded amongst others by Canned Heat,

we were on the way to our next port of call,

Bourton on the Water, a delightful village in the Cotswolds,

bit of a bad place to have a breakdown,

another glorious day for us,

blue skies,

as we ate the miles away,

and here we were,

we had booked two days at Coombe House, a family run B&B, by David and Dawn, a charming couple who really took great care of all of their guests, after booking in we were out,

we just could not help ourselves, all along the way into the village there were so many blackberries, naturally we sampled a few each time we walked past,

we went to Birdland Park and Gardens, often called Birdland, 

and what a delight it was,

naturally,

I had the infrared camera whilst Diana used the normal one,

ducks, well there would be, the River Windrush flows right through the village and continues through Birdland,

as you enter a nice display of flowers greats you,

as do the penguins,

in their pool,

then Diana saw it,

them I should have said, Emperor penguins, (Aptenodytes forsteri), awake,

or asleep Diana just wanted to take one home,

I tried to explain how impossible it would be for two reasons,

I reminded her that we live one floor up from the ground,

so firstly if we let the bird out it could not fly up to our flat,

secondly with those little feet,

there was no way it could climb the stairs, so that was alright then!

smile please!

back to the other side of the pathway,

we walked through the entrance, the entrance fee is £10.95 for adults, £9.95 for OAPs both less 10% if you book online,

I was away with the infrared,

 Diana was really enjoying herself,

she had wanted to see flamingos,

for as long as I can remember,

and here they were,

lots of them,

that you could view from a platform,

whilst they feed from a feeder or feed in the normal way,

a whole flock of them,

as the river runs through the park the water is so clear,

I am not sure what it is, but it looked fierce,

again other than a tropical starling I do not know the name of this one,

but I do know this is a black swan, (Cygnus atratus),

next really pink flamingos, (Phoenicopterus ruber),

or Caribbean flamingos as they are known,

a grey crowned crane or gray crowned crane (Balearica regulorum), having a feed,

the emu, (Dromaius novaehollandiae) is the second-largest living bird by height,

and I have to say I was not too sure about these, the mesh in the wire was quite large, large enough for them to get their head and neck through, so I kept my distance,

Jurassic Park,

with all manner of dinosaurs,

on display, pity they could not borrow a live one from Universal Studios,

we decided on a coffee and cake in the riverside restaurant in the park,

the inside,

but we sat outside with the flowers,

it is amazing how big the Emperor penguins are,

we then decided to take a walk along the river,

the place was packed,

which was to be expected,

it was such a nice day,

so on the banks of both sides of the crystal clear water,

in the river and on the bridges, 

there are 5 of them, 

there were holiday and day trippers everywhere,

a quick pose from Diana.

we decided to look at some of the other attractions here,

so time to put the camera away,

this looked nice for our evening meal,

just what I wanted!

but first we carried on walking,

to the far end of the public walkway,

a few more rocks for my collection?

Diana was taken with this shop,

and came out smelling of roses,

there were lots of tea rooms,

as we continued our walk,

towards one of the bridges,

and over I went,

own up, who shouted jump?

we started back to our room,

I had to stop and look at some of the trout in Birdlands part of the river,

then blackberry picking, this so reminded me of going out with my grandmother when I stayed with my grandparents in school holidays, and we would gather berries,

it was the same now as it was then, the best berries are always the furthest away from where you are!

back to Coombe House,

and its magnificent garden,

which like the house is totally immaculate,

and with so many unusual and mature trees,

a quick wash and brush up,

in our room,

and we were back here for our evening meal, in de la Hayes,

we arrived early at 6.30 in the evening, so at first we had the place to ourselves, but it soon filled up,

for Diana's starter she chose calamari,

prawn cocktail for myself,

we took a leisurely stroll back to our room where we watched some cable television and then for us we were of to bed.