We Had A Nice Walk,

to Steve and Kai's,

blue skies,

many of the trees now starting their summer foliage,

in the park we have a snail mail post box, and here is another one in a road called The Park,

Diana dressed for a day out at the gardens, we are going to RHS Garden Wisley, in Woking, Surrey, the garden covers 240 acres, it is huge,

from Beckenham to Wisley and picking up Phanee in Crystal Place took about 1 hour,

when we arrived at the Wisley car park, the girls were hungry,

so bananas it was,

we followed Phanee to the entrance,

where I took a few photographs,

of the plants and pots at the entrance, at this moment in time you have to book a place, but I am guessing in the coming weeks that will not be necessary,

directions, what to do first?

find somewhere for a coffee and a cake, I am amazed at the number of these Citron vans that have been made into coffee/snack bars, they seem to be everywhere,

as it happens the service was not that quick, so we went to the café nearby and were served straight away,

a bit of everything for Diana and Kai,

a sandwich and a coffee for Steve, just a coffee for myself,

the fact that we were eating had not gone unnoticed by the local duck population, just be careful you do not tread on one!

bellies full, back to the lake,

and pose for a photograph from Diana,

we followed the ducks to the lake, passing this fantastical fellow,

and here we are at the lake, Ah!

and one of the girls, Phanee, Diana and Kai,

if only fishing was allowed!

in the distance duck island,

warm in the sun, but chilly when it hid behind the clouds,

across the lake,

a wooden pagoda,

which we will take a look at later,

but first a slight detour,

as we follow a small stream,

towards,

the pinetum, 

stopping at a cherry tree on the way,

for a pose,

some of the pines were huge,

and of an age that I could not guess,

and so many of them,

although difficult to judge, the base of this one must have been 2 yards across, this one the giant sequoia, (Sequoiadendron giganteum), 

we continued our walk,

and noticed some bluebells,

growing by the stream,

Diana was so happy,

on her day off,

we continued along the stream, 

and found ourselves at the waterfall,

going into the lake,

and nice it looked too,

I just had to have a pose as well,

we arrived at the pagoda,

but alas it was closed,

this tree was magnificent, its branches literally touching the ground, it must look a picture when in full bloom,

and speaking of pictures,

here are the girls,

and Steve,

another of the fantastical figureheads, by Philip Hass, Titled Spring 2012, which is on loan from the artist,

the work itself,

is composed of stylised flowers, 

leaves and petals,

we just could not walk past this cherry tree,

it was in full bloom, with hardly any petals on the ground,

so Diana and Phanee,

were on a photo fest,

and nice the flowers were too,

and full of fragrance,

and to make matters even better the sun was out,

we were at the path lading to one of the glasshouses, but due to the virus it was closed,

and leading to the glasshouse?

more cherry trees,

although the car park was pretty full, 

the gardens were not crowded, which was nice,

on our next visit hopefully he houses will be open,

another figurehead,

stands guard by the side of the lake,

the weather was being really kind to us, just enough sun and cloud, the forecast was for rain, but so far so good,

it was so nice Diana had a seat in the sun,

it looks like there is only Diana there,

but in the panorama there is Kai,

we made our way away for the glasshouse,

when I say we I mean Steve and myself, we left the girls snapping away with their mobile telephones,

looking back,

and then 180 degrees the other way the hill,

and here I was, 

by now the girls had caught Steve up,

towards the top of the hill there was a huge swath of late flowering daffodils,

lots of them, 

so time for a pose, 

or two, firstly Diana,

followed by Kai,

and finally Phanee, 

who was also photographed by Diana using Phanee's telephone, Steve and myself declined the offer!

at the top of the hill there are large apple,

and pear orchards,

as well as soft fruit,

like these raspberries,

and rhubarb, mixed in as well,

I am guessing many of the trees in the orchards,

are heritage trees,

that is varieties that you would not find in the usual shops and supermarkets, with out places like this so many varieties would be lost forever, and keeping those diverse varieties is so important for future crop breeders,

I will stop this post now, if you want to read more of our day out please just hit the Next Posts button on the right at the bottom of this post, going back to varieties of apples, I will leave you with a question, if you ate a different variety of apple in an apple pie every day of the week, how many months would it take you to sample every variety of apple?