Saturday 4th October - Holiday at Home; Thursday, Nymans Gardens

 We met up with Son and Daughter for lunch at Nymans Gardens. I think the weather was best described as Autumnal. Unsurprisingly, considering it's October. 

It looks as though the National Trust has standardised the menus across the sites; I'm not complaining  because the curried cauliflower pasty in wholemeal pastry is so delicious I was more than happy to have it again. I am determined to work out how make that filling at home.

But we were there to spend time together and have a walk through the gardens...

They always have a display of flowers to be seen in the gardens. I wondered about doing a bit of a scavenger hunt...

Unfortunately this tree wasn't included;

The fruits or whatever they are look so alien

The branches were low enough that you touch them... but somehow I didn't want to... I kept thinking of the witches scene from Macbeth

Fillet of a fenny snake,

In the cauldron boil and bake;

Eye of newt and toe of frog,

Wool of bat and tongue of dog,

Adder's fork and blindworm's sting,

Lizard's leg and howlet's wing.

For charm of powerful trouble,

Like a hell-broth boil and bubble.

We did spot another of these trees a long while back and I found out what it was then. I haven't managed to track down that information yet.

We carried on to a lower path lined with huge mature trees. Here's one with some fungus at the base

This path goes down to the lowest level of the gardens. I knew I was facing an uphill climb in every sense of the word to get back to the entrance /exit level. Taking my time I made it to the top! What a sense of achievement, rewarded by the view right across to the far side of the valley! 

You can see that the sun came out towards the last of the afternoon - perfect end to a lovely day.

We agreed not to meet on Friday as rain was forecast - accurately as it turned out - we've plans to finish the week by meeting for lunch at the weekend.