Part 2 Of Our Day Out With Steve And Kai,

and what a glorious day it still was,

we walked back towards the house,

and into the studio where a talk about Sir Winston's art was taking place,

before we started walking to one of the lakes,

looking back to the house,

and now,

 

towards one of the willows by the lake,

before turning uphill,

passing what was once the swimming pool that has now been left as a natural pond,

we moved towards the giant Chilean rhubarb plant, (Gunnera manicata),

it was huge, not only each individual plant but the number of them growing together,

all of them at this time of the year,

having flower spikes,

and new ones growing,

we continued walking,

looking back over the giant rhubarb patch, 

Kai was making a video for the Facebook page she has where she has numerous followers, as Diana is the camerawoman, I have made a short video at the end of the day showing firstly the flowers that the bees liked so much, and secondly a slight wobble in the making of the video,

all now composed after the 'incident' we carried on,

it was time for a few more poses,

and a close up,

one thing I noticed that I really liked,

was that under many of the plants and bushes,

small groups of cyclamen had started to grow,

just like these,

for myself they looked so nice,

and so unexpected,

as I though they were mainly indoor plants,

but not so here,

we walked back past the café to the car park,

when I noticed this cock pheasant,

and in a jiffy it was gone,

we were soon driving down country lanes,

and B roads,

until we arrived here,

and stopped at Equestrian & Pet Supplies Garden Centre,

Steve and myself had a look around,

not a big selection of plants,

but Steve had a few empty places in his fern garden,

and found these two,

I mentioned they did not have many plants, 

but they more than made up for it on the equestrian side!

right down to the boots,

we stopped for coffee at Chiddingstone village,

parking near the church,

we walked up the High Street, Diana admiring the frogs in the front garden, 

this building dated 1697, amazing!

outside a gathering of frogs,

one not looking very happy!

the stories this doorway could tell!

all of the buildings along here of a similar age,

under the archway,

and in,

looking back,

we sat here,

under a canopy of grapes,

it looked like this year would be a bumper crop,

coffee and cakes ordered,

we sat, a buzz of bees above us,

a pose from the girls,

and one,

or two from Diana,

we next entered the rear of the grounds of Chiddingstone Castle, 

into the gate,

and a walk to the pond,

lots of waterlilies to the right, 

as we neared the bridge,

looking to the left,

and right, 

no I am not being all hip,

as I wear my baseball cap back to front, the peak gets in the way when I look through the cameras eyepiece,

a panorama of the bridge,

the far end of the pond,

you have to look carefully to see the carp,

we started our walk back to the car,

a look along the High Street,

and we were on our way,

passing this delightful oast house conversion into a dwelling,

we travelled the back roads,

arriving at Pole Hill,

as we made our way to the entrance a Jaguar, the same metallic British Racing Green as ours, but this one had different wheels, and when we got closer it was a XE sport, ours is a XF Sport, so not quite the same, 

my favourite shop here was open,

seafood!

the agony of choice, whelks,

or cockles?

whelks it was, delicious!

at the entrance I walked into catch the gang up,

a few nice petunias,

and waterfall greeted me,

as well as a few other plants,

inside the fresh fruit stall and store, unfortunaly today no almond macaroons,

I started taking a few photographs,

of the indoor plants,

including these orchids,

I thought these Soleirolia plants looked nice,

the way they grow into rounded shapes,

also looking nice these,

insect eating plants,

a quick look at the cactus,

a large barrel cactus yours for £88.00, 

of course there were lots of smaller ones for sale,

as well as succulents,

and strangest perhaps of them all,

air plants, 

into the plants for out of doors,

a riot of colour, 

and then I bumped into Steve with another fern,

I passed the pansy and violas stall,

but stopped at the cyclamen stall,

a riot of reds and pinks,

as far as the eye could see, 

the chrysanthemums putting on a good display as well.

and I had to take a photograph of the mental grass!

Steve and Kai very kindly dropped us off home and called in for a coffee, many thanks to Steve and Kai for sharing their day out with us, after they left I made a start on the blog, and as promised, 

here is the video, firstly of the flowers that the bees liked so much, in the second part of the video Kai is explaining to her followers about the giant Chilean rhubarb, unfortunately let down by the camerawomen that ran out of pathway on the bridge over the stream, with tragic, (hilarious) results!

it was then time for our evening meal,

avocados and crayfish tails we had bought at Pole Hill, on a bed of salad, 

all set to tuck in,

and a 'Cheers!', from me with a glass of milk, I then started on the blog, as tomorrow we will be out again, what a wonderful day we had.