Halfterm Week

The first weekend of halfterm was the last day of good weather for a whole week. I'm glad we went out and walked round a local garden for an hour or so in the afternoon as the rest of the week saw us back in winter clothes and frequently cursing that we should have put on a warmer fleece.

The garden was lovely; an entire small steep valley with a lake at the bottom, big enough to warrant a small rowing boat and a punt tied up at the landing stage. We walked round in a leisurely fashion as befits the elderly (that's how we felt that afternoon, pockets full of tissues and stopping every few yards to cough or sneeze). Luckily the gardens were not crowded so we didn't need to inflict ourselves at close quarters upon the other visitors.

While refreshing ourselves with a cream tea, I spotted two kites (birds, not the other sort of kites) circling round on the thermals in the clear blue sky.

There isn't much parking at the house, so we had been directed to a National Trust car park further along thought the woods, next to a lake. Definitely NOT a meromictic lake as you can see from the colour of the water!

The white thing in the top left hand corner of the lake is a heron - there were two, flying round and round together with lazy, elegant flaps of their wings. One settled where you can see it, the other went and pretended to be one of the bullrushes on the far side at the edge of the lake.

Home to rest up after our exertions and eat some more of the Victoria Trifle.