Another Day Of Only One Post,

I took way too many photographs, again!

today a drive in the countryside,

first a few miles of motorways, before we hit the smaller,

country roads,

countryside driving rule number 1, tractors always have right of way, argue if you dare!

all was going well,

we even hit the one track bridge with no traffic on it,

after which the roads got a tad narrow,

and then there it was,

Chegworth Valley PYO cherry farm,

the cost is 50 pence for a punnet, then PYO and at the end when you think you have enough the charge is £5.00 per kilo,

I asked if Diana had to be weighed before entering!

we were on our way,

and could not believe our eyes,

the very first tree was laden down with cherries,

we tried a few,

well more than a few,

they were delicious,

Diana started picking a few to take home,

and naturally sampling a few, well we did not want to pick from a tree where they were not sweet!

last year the farm was closed, the year before that a very poor harvest, but this year made up for all of that,

some of the branches were so over loaded with cherries the fruit actually touched the ground,

and instead of reaching up, Diana had to kneel down to pick them!

the photographs do not do justice,

to the amount of fruit that was there for the picking,

it was great fun,

in no time we had a half a punnet full of cherries,

and then we came to the trees where no one had been picking before us, you could almost hear the branches creaking under the weight of the fruit!

heaven knows why I was reaching up there,

there were so many at easy picking level,

naturally I had to try a few,

and who can resist,

 cherry earrings?

what a truly fabulous crop,

a final photograph of myself,

so far we had been lucky with the weather,

as we made our way back to be weighed,

the bill including the punnet,

came to £8.00 exactly,

what a great way,

to spend some time in the afternoon,

back to the car for the next part of our journey,

again we luckily hit the bridge, 

with out having to wait for on coming cars,

the van on the other side waiting for us to clear the bridge,

but,

as we neared the level crossing,

it was obvious that we were not going to make it,

so we sat it out,

as a Triumph Bonneville,

pulled up in front of us,

no sooner had the train past and the gates just slightly raised,

and he was gone,

we both did not have a breakfast,

so the next stop, food!

as they had a large dinning area we choose Coolings Garden Center, I thought the front of the building looked nice,

with the Union Jack above the door in flowers,

inside we had a look around,

all manner of hanging indoor plants,

and of course orchids,

lots of them,

succulents seem to have over taken cactus as the must have house plant over the past few years,

but there were still lots of cactus on display,

these wind mobiles you defiantly do not want to look at if you are having a dizzy moment!

they were actually a bit mesmerising, so I made a short video of them,

new for this visit, fairies that have their own solar powered light, when ever I see fairies I always think of Richard Dadd,

as this newspaper described him, 'The Fairy King',

and of course one must not forget the Cottingley Fairies,

outside flowers everywhere we looked,

a riot of color,

in some previous posts I have mention bee gardens on top of bus stop shelters, 

well here are the flowers that are used on them,

with a note on how to make your own bug hotel,

inside one of the greenhouses,

and outside again, what a great time of the year to visit somewhere like this,

some of the flowers looking too good to be true!

telephone boxes seem to spring up everywhere,

time for a pose,

next tea with the Queen of Hearts,

I found the table Diana found the food,

for Diana,

a latte coffee and a toasted cheese and ham sandwich,

for myself a pot of tea,

and a current scone,

easy does it,

and of course with the scone,

lots of Cornish cream and strawberry jam,

the dinning area is large and even has a overflow room for when it is very busy,

the beamed ceiling a nice touch, our breakfast came to £18.00,

outside hydrangeas,

and so many beds of colorful flowers,

these looking like sunflowers,

Diana took a photograph of me taking a photograph of her,

lupins seem to be the flower of choice this year,

a lot more colorful, well I should say stronger colours than the ones my grandmother used to grow,

a look at the top of the flower looking down,

these looked really different,

blue thistles,

a last look through the roses at the outside plants for sale,

and a pose from myself, well these things just have to be done!

inside, if you do not have green fingers,

there are these,

a greenhouse,

full of artificial ones,

like this one,

no aroma,

but delicately formed,

outside and back home,

today's journey 63.3 miles,

we averaged 31 miles per hour, which considering much of it was on country roads seems pretty fair,

and returned 46 miles to the gallon, which I thought very good indeed, it is not exactly a small car,

in the evening time for a read and a sherry,

for our starter mussels in a white wine sauce,

'Cheers!',

for our main course bangers and mash, with vegetables,

with gravy for Diana sans gravy for myself,

eyed down and tuck in!

for dessert a raspberry cream

delicious! after listening to some music it was feet up for a double helping of Silent Witness before we were off to bed.