I Am Only Making One Post Today,

for 2 reasons, 

firstly as it was Diana's day off we were out and as usual I took way too many photographs, secondly first thing today, (Wednesday), I will be out to visit Duncan, so as soon as I post this I will be out, back to Tuesday, it was a glorious day as we drove to the entrance of the park,

we were soon waiting our turn to join the traffic opposite the nicely flowering blue shrub, 

in Addiscombe the 'bald' trees as Diana calls them had still not started to sprout their summer growth after a hard pruning,

we drove through the road that leads to our destination, 

car parked we crossed the road,

past the snail mail box that serves, 

Coombe Wood Gardens & Café, as it happens we were here in February and had returned in the hope that the rhododendrons would be in flower, 

first a look at the pond, 

at the front of the garden, a Chilean rhubarb plant, (Gunnera manicata), was growing well, 

its flower spike already well advanced, 

new bulrushes were also growing well,

the pond had a copious growth of surface algae, covering nearly 50% of the pond, 

I was busy snapping away,

Diana was busy posing!

for a few photographs,

at the beginning of the garden's,

looking back at the pond, 

a flash of orange as a koi carp nears the surface,

we passed a few bluebells, now nearly past their best, 

and the café in the garden,

in the distance our first glimpse of a flowering rhododendron,

and it was huge!

a pose by the archway that separates 2 parts of the gardens,

in the foreground one species of metal grass growing, 

in the background the building that was one the home of the owner, that then became a restaurant and is now empty, with just a caretaker living there,

the first of the coloured rhododendrons in glorious colour, 

the blooms of this one, as can be seen, 

were huge, 

in a few more steps a second plant in flower,

pose for the camera!

that plant was on the right, on the left,

the flowers,

almost looked bi-coloured, 

as well as the rhododendrons flowering, some of the pine trees were producing small cones, 

like this one,

there were still a number of rhododendrons in bud, so a few more weeks until they flower I guess,

the rear of the large white rhododendron,

we saw when we first arrived,

these yellow rhododendrons were so nice, 

the aroma was so delicate, 

as were the flowers,

a few paces further and more delights, 

another plant with huge flowers,

and more of the yellow variety, just past them,

pretty in pink,

another rhododendron with huge flowers, 

Diana just had to have a selfie,

this one a dark red, 

and so many flowers, 

again the plant was huge,

as were the flowers, 

a pose for the family album,

we continued our walk,

past more yellow, red, 

and white flowers,

huge flowers, 

I have to say it appears that this wet year has really favoured the growth of big flowers, 

as well as one of my grandmothers favorite flowers, 

tucked behind a couple of bluebells, a Lily of the Valley, (Convallaria majalis),

we had not taken the path we were on before and found ourselves in what we call the valley,

we took the steps to the left up,

normally we are coming down these,

near the top we were greeted with white rhododendrons,

time for a pose by these yellow ones, 

lots of them, 

the air was filled with their aroma, 

thankfully it was a calm day so aroma was with us for some time,

we took a new trail for us, 

into a pine grove, 

with more white flowering rhododendrons, 

the pines giving way to deciduous trees,

we had not been here before, 

Diana commented, 'it is like a maze here',

on the ground hundreds of Lily of the Valleys,

on both sides of the trail,

many in flower, 

the further we walked, 

the more there were of them,

a new one for us, we had not been this close to the building that was once a restaurant before,

we followed the trail,

when it then opened up into a clearing with a couple of benches,

and then we recognised where we were,

the garden just past the arch, 

heading towards it, 

Diana stopped to take a close up of some buttercups,

up to the arch,

I caught Diana up,

one more quick pose, 

then Diana made a video of her blowing the seeds of a dandelion to their new home,

past one of the pine trees, 

which is near the entrance where some spurge, (Euphorbia Wulfenii),

were growing,

in to the car and we were off, 

driving towards Downe near Biggin Hill, 

to the Holwood farm shop, for a late breakfast, 

inside a nice selection of dried flowers,

upstairs to the restaurant,

iced coffee latte for Diana, a latte for myself,

looking downstairs to the farm shop,

lots to choose from,

a English fry up each, 

next a photograph of the cakes to show Diana,

a orange and almond to go, the meal came to £34.00, 

we had a look downstairs in the shop, before making a move to our next stop, 

and here we are at Keston ponds, 

we were soon walking down, 

to Caesars well,

where water bubbles from the ground, to flow down a channel into the top pond, 

new for this visit, 

a ledged about the well,

like the pond at Coombe wood, the top pond too was covered in green algae, 

I had not put my boots on,

 

the path by the pond was muddy to say the least,

so we took the high path,

and avoided all of this,

as well as algae, some of the waterlilies were producing leaves, 

a wall goes around one side of the top pond, 

in the distance a heron,

trying his luck,

posed for action,

looking back towards Caesars well,

at the top of the stream looking down to the middle pond, 

in the distance we were hoping to see a ice cream van, 

alas it was not here today,

we walked towards the road, 

looking across the lake at some waterfowl,

just in front of us, 

a couple of mandarin ducks,

both males,

looking rather splendid, 

which were soon joined by a few male mallards, all drakes together,

this lake not quite so full of algae, 

Diana near the end of the middle pond, 

this is the road that separates the middle and bottom ponds, we did not visit the bottom pond as we both guessed it would be more than just a tad muddy!

we walked along the road, 

taking photographs as we went, 

a mandarin was on the gravel shore, 

and a pair of coots, 

were showing off their young, 

two here, 

Diana was snapping away, 

as the pair united, 

I was busy trying to take a close up of the mandarin,

with out a zoom lens,

whose a pretty boy then?

time for a snack, 

and a look around,

we were both amazed how close the ducks came to us, 

normally they remain so aloof,

but here they were at our feet, 

and we did not even have any peanuts!

I had forgotten them in the car,

a quick preen, 

as we left the pond and started our walk back to the car,

looking back it was a glorious day, 

on the way back we meet Mr. Heron,

who kept a distance in front of us,

until he tired of being followed, 

and cut left to the pond,

he was soon back in his element, 

knee deep in water!

a last look back and we were in the car driving home, where it was feet up for a coffee and a couple of ZZZZ's for Diana, for myself as there were so many photographs I made a start on the blog, later we watched a couple of quiz shows before our evening meal after which a couple of Antiques Road Trip, before our evening film for tonight,

 

Bullet Train, as the title may suggest most of the action takes place on a bullet train, the action almost none stop as multiple plots slowly intertwin, the film reminded us both of Snatch, such an enjoyable movie a few holes in the plot, but it was a film meant to entertain, and it does!, after which we were both off to bed.