Another Day Of Only One Post,

for 2 reasons,

firstly I took too many photographs and secondly I will be off first thing to visit Duncan as soon as I post this, back to Tuesday, it was Diana's day off, so into the car and we were driving out of the park,

to the Eden Park Toby, 

for our breakfast, 'Cheers'! with a mug of tea, 

Diana's selection, 

which she followed with toast, marmalade and jam, the unlimited all you can eat breakfast came to £17.96 for both of us,

I had to have a pose by the Toby jugs on the way out,

and like Diana one in the entrance, 

into the car and we were off,

soon driving towards the IKEA chimneys,

as it happens they have a bit of history behind them, 

and that is where they soon were, behind us!

we drove out through leafy Mitcham and Morden,

it was not very far but due to the M25 being closed one part of the 10 mile journey took over 30 minutes due to the shear volume of diverted traffic, 

but not to worry here we were, at the Morden Hall Park, 

125 acres of park and rivers, 

one of the many tributaries of the River Wandle,

I was soon taking photographs,

guilty as charged!

I thought this was a nice water feature, yours for £1,900.00,

into the park itself from the car park,

and across one of the many steams,

that wandered through the park,

unfortunaly I have left the ducks peanuts in the car, 

the white arum death lily, (Zantedeschia aethiopica), putting on a good show, the reason the plant received its unusual name is here, 

the plants are of quite a size,

the water is crystal clear, in the shadow,

a few ducks,

within the park there are a number of buildings, the clock tower, 

leading to what was once the stables, now a picnic area,

here one of the wheels that ground snuff, 

that the River Wandle powered, 

the entrance to the information centre, 

next to a riverside cottage, 

Diana poses by the one remaining watermill,

there were in the day two here, as it happens when an apprentice in the print industry, a number of gentlemen printers still took snuff, in their youth smoking was banned as a fire risk so snuff it was, I should also mention that the waterwheel does not go round as it is no longer working, 

one of the buildings now used as a play school and nursery,

the picnic area strewn with discarded snuff grinding wheels,

we started our walk,

followed one of the trails,

crossing small streams,

some leading to a huge wetlands, 

then Diana found this, 

screams of laughter, 

and cries of terror,

 as I helped push to and fro,

and then Diana tried, 

to stand up, 

the rest I will leave to Mr. Gravity,

next a small stand of willows, 

being trained into a Living Willow Dome,

then something else for Diana to try, a zip wire, as it happens at the end of our trip I have made a short video of the river, plus Diana's fun on the swing and zip wire, 

I took things a tad easier, 

and settled for a walk along the bank,

unfortunately our trail soon became impassable in normal shoes due to the heavy rains of the past few months,

we made a detour, 

and found a less muddy trail,

past this strange looking mushroom,

we soon arrived back at the main river, 

and this bridge was as far as we could go, it is the one that the trams from Beckenham Junction to Mitcham use, 

we took a slightly different path back,

the park in the distance, grass meadows and huge trees, 

again in the distance, 

a bridge with cast iron railings,

Victorian I am guessing, but they could be earlier, 

a pose from Diana,

and a look down river, 

a couple of poses,

by, 

and on the bridge, 

sans Diana,

we made our way through the garden centre, 

but it has to be said with not many indoor plants, 

but outside, 

some of the plants on display were so colourful,

and so many others of them in bud,

past this display, 

and into a aquatic centre, well I just had to have a look around, 

back outside and past the planters,

and it was time for a drink and a ice cream,

it really was that hot,

and the lolly so cold!

watching Diana reminded me of a Max Bygraves song,

the first lolly of 2024!

and Diana enjoyed it, 

and for myself the first Magnum in the UK since we left Thailand 5 or so years ago, into the car and I just had to play the song I was thinking about, the song titled, 'When You Come To The End Of A Lollipop', and here it is, 

arriving home I put together this short video of our trip,

and this is it, after which we watched a couple of quiz shows before our evening meal, followed by a Deadliest Catch and a Antiques Road Trip, before a Midsomer Murder, we had watched this episode before, but such a long time ago we had almost forgotten the plot and who murdered who! next as Diana has a early start tomorrow morning, we were off to bed.