Oh Dear,

I Have Done It Again!

taken way too many photographs, so I will only be making one post today, as it is Diana's day off we were out, driving through West Wickham looking at this shops name, it was a shame there was not a railway nearby!

we were on our way to Coolings Garden Centre, that has quite a history to it, 

we had soon past the village of Rushmore Hill, Knockholt,

and driving through country lanes,

then on the left, 

and we were driving into the car park.

and walking to the entrance, 

inside a nice display, 

straight ahead displays of potted plants, 

the bromeliads looking so bright, 

as did these gerbera, 

and a range of colours in the anthurium display, 

there was also a few of the more unusual orchids here, 

these dendrobium nobile, 

in this group the flowers grow on the plants stems, 

next indoor ferns,

succulents, 

and tradescantia, 

a few less insectivorous plants here than the last time we visited Coombe Wood and Coolings and Diana bought me one, 

I nearly forgot the cactus, 

and air plants, 

tin plate garden ornaments still seem to be great favourites, 

and here is Tinkerbell and a friend,

outside, 

planters the same as inside fully stocked, I guess all garden centres are stocking up for the summer rush,

this looked nice, and unusual, 

it was a Yucca rostrata, yours for £499.99,

as always bees have a strong presence in gardens, 

so there were a few bee themes here, 

amongst the whispering grass, 

when ever I think of whispering grass I always think of Don Estelle & Windsor Davies who played Lofty & Sargent Major ‘Shut Up’ singing Whispering Grass from the great television comedy show Ain't Half Hot Mum,

past the bridge for sale,

and into one of the greenhouses,

stocked with bedding pants,

outside pansies, small,

and large flowering, 

this one almost looking like it was made out of velvet,

it seems like grow your own lemons is going to be popular this year, 

looking at this display,

some of the plants quite large,

the cat guarding them actually looked quite realistic,

next stop for us breakfast, 

Diana snagged a table, and as we are members of the Coolings Club and it is my birthday soon, 

I was given 2 slices of cake as a present from Coolings, 

as I do not really eat cake,

it made Diana's day!

Diana had ordered a cheese and ham toastie, 

a tuna mayonnaise for myself with a small side salad,

our breakfast including 2 latté coffees came to £26.00,

we then went into the topiary area, but I must have mispronounced it, as Diana immediately broke in to a favorite song from World War One, 'Its a long way to Tipperary', the place name Tipperary replaced by topiary, 

I must take more care in pronouncing!

one for the album,

we then walked past more garden ornaments,

lots of them, 

as well as more realistic ones looking like birds and animals,

a selection of pines here,

with the smallest monkey puzzle tree, (Araucaria araucana), we have ever seen,

the pots here a bit bigger than Bill and Ben the Flower Pot Men, that I remember as a kid!

we arrived at the koi shop in the garden centre, 

that had a pond that could be viewed from the outside, 

and one inside the shop as well,

the fish were huge, 

I made a short video of Diana by the pond, 

as we made our way out we passed some orchids, 

and I purchased a couple of trays to stand the Venus fly traps that we have it, it will make watering them a tad easier, 

back into the car, 

and we were soon heading home,

past a huge Christmas tree in the centre of one of the roundabouts,

we parked the car at home and then muddy boots on we went for a walk along our road, 

and that is what we were hoping to see, 

bluebells,

we carried on walking, we were going to look where I had looked before a few weeks ago,

and it was looking promising, 

then a quick diversion as Diana blew away some of the dandelion heads in the verges, 

one, two, three, go!

more bluebells in this verge, 

the same,

on the other side of the road, 

Westgate Road, looking like the Somme, then in summer it becomes a dust bowl,

a pose by the gate that does not allow cars into the park,

and well, I just had too!

the first bluebells at the bottom of Crab Hill,

before we started up the hill,

another pose, 

then up and past the hawthorn bushes that are just starting to flower,

over the top of the hill,

and down, 

into the bluebell wood,

the camera does not do the blooms justice, 

there were so many here, 

as we started our walk through them,

I was busy snapping away, but had time for a pose,

everywhere we looked,

stands of flowers everywhere,

 

Diana looking nice, 

amongst the flowers,

we carried on walking,

whilst I continued,

taking photographs, 

we were by now nearing the end of the bluebell section of our walk,

a number around this tree,

then the flowers started thinning out, 

as we started the walk downhill,

towards the gate, 

that stops cars from entering, 

into our road and we were on our way home, Diana disappeared into the kitchen and started preparing our evening meal, which was a delicious chicken noodle soup that she had made like the one we ate so much of when we lived in Thailand, 

if you ever go to Thailand, this is the type of stall to look out for,

selling chicken feet soup, delicious, if you look here, it is a post of when Steve and Kai joined us at the stall when they were in Thailand way back in 2013, 

after our meal we watched a Bond classic, Thunderball, the world is held hostage as Bond tries to find two nuclear warheads, which we followed and rounded off the evening,

 with Deep Impact, a disaster movie that humankind, (see I was PC, I could have said mankind!), seems to love, after which as Diana has a early start tomorrow we were off to bed.