It Was Diana's Day Off,

so blog posted and we were out,

into clear blue skies, I should say as usual on one of our days out, I took way too many photographs, so there will only be one post today, 

and this is where we are headed, London Butterfly Gardens at Hall Place,

into the entrance to the gardens,

we made our way towards the butterfly garden,

stopping to look at some of the flowers in the beds nearby, 

which looked so nice in the sunlight, 

into the main entrance, 

passing rows of plants for sale,

lots of them,

into the entrance, 

where there are a number of items for sale, 

in we went, I should say admission is Pay on the day : £8.50 adults, £7.50 children, under 5’s £3.00, Pre-book online discount: £7.50 adults, £6.50 children, under 5s £2.50. While the ‘Living World’ is getting ready to open, entry to the Butterfly Gardens will reduce by £1 each on all tickets with exception of under 5 year olds, and here is the good news, tickets are valid for the whole day so you can go in and out as required, and one more thing, please read this:

the last part should be borne in mind if any one out there is touchy-feely, 

as soon as we walked in, we were in a tropical paradise, exotic plants everywhere, it reminded us so much of our years in Thailand, 

as soon as we stopped walking after a few paces, 

there was our first living jewel,

a quick photograph of me, before I got totally lost taking photographs, 

butterflies everywhere!

we had been to a butterfly farm before, and if truth be known we were a little disappointed, but here it was a lepidopterist's paradise, 

slices of orange in a bowl were popular, 

and here is a daddy butterfly and a mummy butterfly making not baby butterflies but eggs, that will hatch into caterpillars, and then after turning into pupae will then emerge as butterflies, 

to say I was spoilt for choice,

was a understatement, 

the trick was to find one and focus before it flew away, 

then Diana was lucky, 

and so was I!

the whole experience was just so magical,

and this one I remember from my school days, when I was about 8 years old or so, one of the pupils brought one of these into school, the whole assembly was amazed, none had seen a butterfly, (yes I know it is a moth) but at the time everyone called it a butterfly, also he brought along the pupa (chrysalis) it had hatched from, it is in fact a Atlas moth, (Attacus atlas), 

and here are some chrysalis,

and if you look carefully another Atlas moth, 

like myself Diana was captivated, 

not only by this huge moth, 

which was super impressive,

but by all of the inhabitants, one thing, be careful where you walk, 

some do alight on the floor, 

as well as us!

what a wonderful experience, 

everywhere we looked, 

it was a photographs dream,

if only they kept still like these!

point, aim, focus,

where did it go?

there he was, 

this one may look a tad strange as it is upside down feeding on nectar, 

perfect!

just as I started to zoom it, he was up and away!

not so this one, thankfully,

or this one, a owl butterfly, (Caligo telamonius memnon),

by now Diana was hungry, and we were getting a tad hot, 

so past the stables which is now a art gallery, 

and the River Cray,

which is beside the café, 

on the other side of the bridge, 

I had already eaten, 

Diana had not, 

then a change of table, 

to sit by the sound of the river, 

the meal came to £22.00, 

we made our way past the rear of Hall Place, 

to look at the river, 

and then the art gallery,

this exhibition featuring a Easton influence, 

this peacock, yours for £1,200.00, 

I have to admit, 

I liked the fish, at £850.00, 

we had cooled off by now, 

so a walk, 

back past the river, 

well I just had to!

this agave in flower, 

and spectacular it looked too,

one from Diana,

we had already said in a few months we would like to return, not only to the butterfly garden, but also Jambs Owls, 

before going back inside we had a look at the plants on sale, Steve has a fern garden, and we spotted one we think was not in his collection, so a surprise for him the next time we meet him and Kai, 

Diana looked at some earrings, after dropping them on the floor, a purchase was made, 

a pair of earrings and matching necklace, 

as we made our way inside, 

a real treat, 

today's hatching of butterflies, 

was being released, 

what a beauty!

I desperately tried to photograph some electric blue morpho butterflies, (Morpho helenor), but they just never seemed to settle,

unlike this one, 

Diana was totally captivated, 

butterflies everywhere,

like this rusty tipped or brown siproeta, (Siproeta epaphus), 

whilst photographing him, 

he started to feed, if you look carefully you can see his proboscis, at the top two antenna, below three legs, the proboscis is the one in the middle, 

Diana was back taking photographs of the newly hatched Atlas moth, 

with so many butterflies, 

I almost forgot to look at the fish in pond, and nice they were too,

a last look as we left, 

I had a chat with Trevor who was most knowledgeable about the gardens and he recounted how the business first came about, many thanks Trevor!

outside with Steve's fern in hand, 

Diana was amazed at the size of these dahlias, 

we made our way to the walled garden,

so many flowers, 

the photographs do not do them justice, 

and what a treat here, 

sunflowers, 

but wait, these not like any we had seen before, 

normally the seeds are in the middle of the bloom,

but these all petals,

they looked, 

and were amazing!

you could almost cut one and use it as a hat!

they were about the same height as the sunflowers we had seem before, 

and then to Diana's delight, 

pumpkins, 

all set for Halloween!

and plenty of apples to go bobbing for if you play snap dragon using apples, 

the walled garden was well maintained, runner beans, 

and I have to confess I did not know what the red stemmed vegetable was, but I guess a variety of rhubarb?

whatever it was it was a size, 

we made our way past tunnels to protect the crop against birds, 

and then a Japanese styled bamboo structure, 

looking through it,

 

a Japanese garden,

a last look at the flowers, 

and ornamental grass, 

what a show!

on our way back to the car we passed through a arch way, which had impossible numbers,

of what appeared to be apples, 

growing on it, 

amazing numbers, 

of mini apples on each branch,

one of the trees, 

this one they had a nice rosy glow, 

Diana here to give you a idea of how small the fruits were, 

I have made a video of our time in the butterfly garden, I have put a music soundtrack to it, but because of copyright in some countries you might not be able to hear it, so I guess just hum a tune! sorry about that, 

and here is a delightful video that Diana made of our visit, hopefully no problems with the music on this one! into the car and on our way home,

passing the ivy house, 

it is in Downham, 

I hope the ivy's roots in the building do not do any damage to it,

next a stop at the garage, 

a warning light had come on, 

to tell me to check the tyres, arriving home it was a coffee before we were out again,

to the cinema, 

I was tempted with the sweets, but refrained, 

Diana was hungry,

well I weakened,

 with a pack of popcorn,

all set, 

and we were in,

to a totally deserted cinema,

we literally, 

were the only people here, 

Diana was happy to get tucked in,

what a feast!

we also shared a huge coke, the bill for the food and drinks came to £18.00, 

we had come to watch Alien Romulus, as it has only just been released I will not comment as you might like to view it without my views on the film, a walk home stopping at the kebab shop, 

for our evening meal 'Cheers!', after which as it was late we only watched a couple from Wycliffe before we were off to bed.