the Internet is so slow today,
so I am only going to make this one post today, as it was Sunday it was Diana's day off, the weather was so nice we decided on a walk in the park,
surprisingly as it was a bank holiday weekend there were no people to be seen,
Diana stopped to take a photograph of a dandelion head,
and here it is,
there were also so many of these flowers growing nearby, lots of them,
I do not know what they are called, but they looked nice,
I had to have a pose,
still no one to be seen,
we made our way into the main part of the park,
past the map of the park,
we made our way up Crab Hill, so called because of the number of crab apple trees that used to grow here,
going down into the forested area there was just one dog walker sharing the other side of Crab Hill with us,
the bluebells now finished,
the flowers now turning to seeds,
we continued our walk,
through the pathways in dappled sunlight,
a quick pose,
from Diana,
as we passed some storm damaged trees,
one of the rhododendrons in flower,
looking a nice shade of lilac,
it was so peaceful here,
we made our way down to the lake,
as we neared the lake we could hear screams in the distance,
it is a pity that the council can not removed this ugly fencing, but there it is,
a little bit of history of the lake and the wildlife surrounding it,
and this is what the screaming was all about,
lots of kids and a few adults kayaking,
I thought it was hard enough to keep upright with just one or two people on a kayak,
but look here,
9 on one kayak!
kayaking was popular looking at the size of the queue waiting to hire one,
it looks like great fun, especially on such a hot day,
we started walking towards the mansion,
passing this old mulberry tree,
we continued walking through the garden,
a quick pose,
and a look at the last of the tulips,
refreshments,
a coffee for Diana, a white wine for myself,
we looked for a table in the courtyard, but it was packed,
but looking over the garden,
past the flowers,
we found a bench,
for Diana to drink her coffee,
and for myself to pour my wine,
'Cheers!', from Diana,
and myself,
what a glorious day,
the wine was going down well,
in the distance we could hear a number of bongo-bongo drums being played
so I had to have a look, families were in a circle around a lady who was keeping time, dancing and telling a story,
as families beat their drums,
for this chaps birthday,
you can hire the group for your own child's birthday party, kids playing drums, what a great way to celebrate a birthday,
the playground in the distance,
the first
wine had gone down so well,
I just had to have another, this time a rosé,
'Cheers!',
we started on our way back,
the tulips that were here on our last visit all now finished,
I am not sure what these are but they looked nice,
one for the album,
we walked towards the mansion,
considering it was such a nice day and it being a bank holiday,
there were few people here,
this has got to be the most organised picnic here!
we made our way past the houses in the park,
and home for my Sunday lunch sherry and read,
on to our starters,
avocado with prawns with sliced cucumber and from Steve and Kai fresh radishes in a slightly peppery clear sauce, delicious!
gammon ham with gravy for Diana,
sans gravy for myself,
eyes down and tuck in!
for dessert cherry pie topped with almonds and covered in cream with a Cornish ice cream topping,
'Cheers!',
and then a real treat, a Jamaican coffee,
it was by now late, so we settled down for a couple of films for the evening, firstly 7 Days in May, followed by The Island, we rounded off the evening with a comedy, The Big Bus, I have not download a cover picture of each movie as the Internet is still so slow, and with that we were then off to bed.