Diana Did Not Have To Go To Work,

until late in the afternoon,

 

so we thought we would have a day out, we planned to start by having a breakfast in the Toby Carvery at Eden Park, and in a stroke of luck we had just received a complementary voucher for a substantial discount as a regular customer for this week for breakfast, so we arrived, to find that this week the restaurant was closed! and we were not the only ones that were here trying to take Toby up on their offer, well a big thanks for nothing Toby Carvery, you really know how to treat your regular customers! next stop Polhill Nursery, I should say the car was covered in dust, as you can see from the photograph above, 

so when we arrived at Polhill we dropped the car off for a wash, 

time for a seafood breakfast, 

a tub of whelks for breakfast it was, 

the waterfall working this week,

inside lots of fresh produce to choose from,

everything looked so tempting, 

plums a favorite, 

back in my day we had tomatoes, red ones, and that was it, nowadays talk about spoilt for choice!

one of the items we came here for, 

macaroon biscuits, a favorite of both of us,

we have heard so much about this product, 

Dubai chocolate, so we had to buy a small bar, at £2.99 not cheap!

I mentioned tomatoes before, 

there were even more, 

in this section, 

and these vegetables that I always find fascinating, 

the geometric shape of this romanesco broccoli, it is actually a cultivar of cauliflower, not broccoli, despite its name,

this is the place to come to if you want jams or preserves, 

we had a look at the plants for sale,

plenty of orchids, 

and lucky for some,

yes count the leaves, 

so many 4 leafed clovers!

a look at the insectivorous plants on offer, 

the cactus display had been moved,

along with the succulents on to a wall,

we passed the water features,

and had a look in the aquatic store, this a Siamese Fighting Fish, (Betta splendens),

also a few indoor coldwater fish, this a Black Moor, (Carassius auratus),

this one almost looking very unhappy!

the same Latin name and care for this red cap oranda,

and here a slightly older, bigger one with the cap more pronounced,

then out side to the covered area, 

where tables were weighed under with spring plants for gardeners like these geraniums,

these looked so nice, Gazanias,

the colures were so strong, 

Diana commented how nice they looked,

 

as well as these (Osteospermums), 

from delicate pink,

through to yellows,

everywhere we looked, 

mobile trays of plants, 

all waiting to be placed on benches for sale,

these Calibrachoa, 

a riot of color, 

there were also so many hanging baskets, each with a different Petunia in it, 

Night Sky,

Queen of Hearts, 

Sparkling Red,

Circus Sky, before we left we bought some excellent saveloy sausages which both Diana and myself like as well as some crayfish tails and cockles, then back into the car for our next place to call at,

Cooling's Garden Center,

 the place was packed, the nursery had just started summer tours of its greenhouses, 

we did not stop inside

straight out to the rear of the nursery, looking right, 

then left,

and we were in the restaurant, 

and here was our breakfast/lunch, a ham and cheese melt for Diana, 

 Cumberland sausage sandwich for myself, 

we had a table near the window, 

as it happens it was so nice we could have sat outside, the meal with 2 latte coffees and a cake came to £32.00,

bill paid we were now going to have a look around, I was intrigued by the label on these plants, 

Verpiss Dich, I guess it translates as Scaredy Cat, their spelling not mine, apparently the plant is called the scaredy cat or scat plant, (Coleus caninus), as its smell is said to deter cats, as well as other mammals including dogs, rabbits, and foxes,

looking behind us it was a good job we arrived and ate when we did, some of the visits to the greenhouses had ended, the queue in the restaurant filled the reception area and continued outside, 

we noticed these calla lilies, (Zantedeschia),

white and yellow ones we have seen before, 

but here there were a few more, 

color varieties, 

we went inside one of the greenhouses, 

hanging baskets everywhere, 

all filled with petunias, 

almost as far as the eye could see,

I said to Diana, "look a miniature sunflower",

 it was of course a dahlia, 

Diana found a bench, 

loaded with them,

next a few garden ornaments, 

sunflowers and butterflies, a nice combination,

and a bee home, this is for some of the approximately 240 species of solitary bees that live in the UK. This accounts for over 90% of the total bee species found in Britain. Solitary bees, unlike honeybees and bumblebees, do not live in colonies and typically nest individually, often in ground burrows or cavities, when we have a picnic in Beckenham Place Park there is a similar structure near where we sit, 

one of my future themes in the camera club is going to be fairies, 

so I thought, 

I had better get a photograph or two of some,

a look at some more insectivorous plants,

before making our way past the ones that are hard to kill!

back into the car, 

and we were soon driving through leafy lanes, 

on our way home, 

a quick trip along one of the main roads, 

past the Christmas tree roundabout and we were home, we had a coffee and feet up for a coupe of hours before I took Diana off to work, 

on the way home a quick call into the dentist where I picked up my denture, I can now smile without upsetting the horses! arriving home I watched a couple of quiz shows before my evening meal after which it was a film, 

 X-Men: The Last Stand, the special effects department pulling out all of the stops, humans have discovered what causes humans to mutate, they have found a cure for the mutation, the war begins, then in a change of reality, 

The Pianist, it is the true story of Wladyslaw Szpilman, at the time Poland's most acclaimed pianist whose life is transformed during the Nazi occupation of Warsaw beginning in 1939, the film spans several years and maps his many personal trials in addition to providing the perspectives of his family, rebel factions and sympathizers, brilliantly directed by Roman Polanski, I followed that with a couple of Bangers & Cash, just before 1.00AM Diana called, she was on a very late shift today, (yesterday) so I picked her up from work, we had a chat and then we were off to bed.