It Was Diana's Day Off,

so we were out,

but first a few photographs from the house in the Philippines,

painting and floors nearly finished,

windows and doors next,

still a little painting to do,

hopefully in a few weeks time Mum can move in,

on to today, we are only making one post today as there are so many photographs, so glad rags on,

first stop the car wash,

just two visits ago, to clean the outside it was £7.00, on the last visit last month £8.00, today £10.00, as they say, 'nothing stays the same forever',

we were soon on our way,

and arrived at the familiar windmill,

at Polhill nursery,

the lure of the outside seafood stall was too much for me,

what a selection,

I was going to have some whelks as usual,

but looking at the cockles I had not eaten them for some time,

so cockles it was then, we shared the pot, I should have bought the large and not the medium!

we were soon inside,

one of the first displays were the orchids, and nice they were too,

        the poinsettias looking nice as they always do at Christmas, but if you want them to develop their red colour next year, keep them in the dark for 14 hours a day for 8 weeks or so before you want to display them,

a favorite of mine, bonsai,

these are all indoor ones, the pines and maples I really do like need the cold of being outdoors,

lots of succulents,

another favorite of mine, insectivorous plants,

you know it must be Christmas,

when not only are red leafed poinsettias on display, but everywhere you look there are cyclamen in flower,

the first of the spring daffodils,

a Christmas tree for the table?

as it happens,

there were literally hundreds,

of full sized trees,

talk about spoilt for choice,

if we wanted a full size tree,

next to the outdoor tree sales area, there is the garden ornament area,

with birds,

gorillas and all manner of creatures for sale,

we then came to another area,

where the trees are prepared for sale,

that one will do nicely, now how do we get it in the car? a good job we already have ours up and decorated already,

mental grass as Diana calls it,

a last look outside,

going into the sales are the first thing that got our attention were these,

liquid filled domes and other shapes that had the liquid moving to give the impression of snow falling, the 'snow' small pieces of glitter and I guess white plastic,

think of London and this display has it all, the red GPO box, a double decker bus, a soldier in a bearskin hat and Big Ben,

a couple more snowing features, Santa on televison,

and a loving couple in their conservatory, how romantic,

a few lights for outside,

nutcrackers,

lots of nutcrackers,

these for Him and Her, (just take the moustache off of one of them!),

the first of the Christmas tree displays,

I have never seen a white coated Father Christmas, until now,

they are all normally red,

like this one,

I think Diana wanted to take him home!

Diana thought the elf's looked cute,

Father Christmas's everywhere you looked,

illuminated ones as well,

I never know when to keep my mask on or not, well as from today, (Wednesday), the country has been told masks in shops, pubs, etc,

Diana just love the elves,

at first I thought they were gonks,

and for the home that has everything, an upside down Christmas tree!

normality returns,

as we look at the last few trees,

 leaving the Christmas display area,

we stopped at the instore butchers, I wanted to pick up a couple pheasants, 2 wrapped in bacon £10.79, that will do nicely,

next stop, the fruit and vegetable part of the garden center,

we needed some mushrooms for this evening,

we were soon on our way through the country lanes,

to park up at our next port of call,

Coolings Garden Centre,

in we went,

 poinsettias at the entrance,

I had to have a closer look,

a smoke generator,

and as you might expect, orchids,

some with so many flowers,

but I should say the flowers were quite small, but they still looked so nice,

a quick look at the tin ornaments,

before going outside,

not many customers it has to be said,

watch out there is an elk about!, well maybe a stag deer,

I wondered why it had these extra bits on its feet to screw it to the ground, it must have weighed a ton, then I looked at the price, yours for £2,499.99, no wonder you have to screw it to the ground!

we passed a few decorations for the table,

I thought these wreaths looked really nice,

all made out of pine cones,

not a red berry in sight, nice,

I spy with my little eye, an elf at the back of the display,

lots more cyclamen for sale,

this is where we are heading, the café,

a quick pose from Diana,

 inside the telephone box, a defibrillator, well I guess garden centers like these do have more elderly visitors on a day out, I nearly said like me!

into the café,

Diana had a latte coffee, tea for myself,

our view of the garden,

we normally sit outside,

but it was such a grey day, and a bit cold too,

Diana's meal arrived, 

chorizo and fennel with garlic bread,

followed by a cake,

for myself a scone, fresh Cornish cream, and strawberry jam,

that's the way, plenty of cream,

yummy! the meal came to £24.75,

we made our way outside, past this huge horse,

at £4,499.99 you really would want to nail this one to the ground, apart from that you could buy a real one or two for that price!

we made our way into one of the greenhouses,

where there was a display of mirrors,

smile for the camera!

naturally Diana had to have a selfie,

as well a mirrors,

there were circles looking like fretwork,

past a few more wreaths,

and then I saw this cute Scottie dog made from fir branches, and then I realised,

it was a reindeer! D'oh! a deer, a female deer,

we started to make to make our way outside,

past more wreaths,

and even more cyclamen,

a reminder of our time in Thailand, bananas,

a nice archway,

leading us outside,

to the garden ornament section,

with all manner of creatures on display,

looking at these foxes, it reminded me that we had not seen the ones in the back garden for more than a few weeks, we both hope they will return,

back to the greenhouses in the distance,

these mobiles were mesmerizing, 

well I thought they were in this video of them!

a few more outdoor decorations,

what a neat idea,

the sign says it all,

back to the car for another pose, then back home and feet up, in the late afternoon Steve called by for a coffee and a chat, after saying goodbye,

it was a read and a sherry, 

for tonight a slight change of meat,

Diana had bought 2 ostrich steaks, 

and nice they were too, as Diana said, 'they taste just like.....' I finished her sentence, 'ostrich, cheers!',

for dessert cherry and almond pie with fresh cream,

next a treat for Diana, our Nespresso pod parcel arrived, and in it a coffee advent calendrer!

Diana was so happy,

tomorrow the countdown will begin! we watched a Lewis followed by a New Tricks before we were off to bed.