The Park, Walled Garden, Mr P in Italy

I went for a walk in the park the other day.  Photos were taken with my mobile phone and the light wasn't good so the photos don't show the true beauty and colour of the flowers and blossom I saw that day.

This white hydrangea by the wall is rather lovely.

I went into the Walled Garden.

I enjoyed seeing the miniature plants in the established rockery....

..... and the ones in the new rockery that was constructed by the high wall some weeks ago and planted up with miniatures and succulents.

Over in Italy Mr P has been settling in with our daughter M and her friend. She sent me photos.  The man with the tractor and cutting facility has cut the grass.  The weather is warm and dry.  With woods and countryside all around there have already been opportunities to take a walk and enjoy nature at its best or just take in the views from the house.  Daughter D even heard the thrilling sound of a nightingale.  No doubt I shall hear more about the trip in the coming days.  The fact that Mr P is able to see his family again after such a long time must be a joy for him and for everyone.

I have my visiting relatives with me here in the UK so I shall keep this blog post short.  Some good activities are planned for the weekend.  Meanwhile I hope you too have a lovely weekend whatever you're doing.

Another Family Outing

We enjoyed another outing yesterday. Our Berkshire daughter is now staying with us for a few weeks. Our drive over to Bakewell to meet up with our son, wife and grandson was scenic as usual, but quite misty in places.  There was a slight drizzle which is called 'mizzle' here, being a combination of mist and drizzly rain.  However, by the time we got to Bakewell it had cleared and we had a good chat over a tasty lunch.  Our son went off to queue up with the usual face covering involved to get a couple of Bakewell Puddings and I had a quick wander by the river and then took a short cut through some beautiful public gardens to get a photo of the parish church, All Saints.  I didn't linger as the family were waiting back at a car park, but it was good to be back in Bakewell again.

The Bakewell Pudding:  Bakewell claims to be the home of the authentic Bakewell Pudding. The recipe was originally something of an accidental invention of the 1860s.  A visitor to the Rutland Arms (then called The White Horse Inn) ordered a strawberry tart, but the one that the cook made was enjoyed by the guest and later it started to be sold in The Old Bakewell Pudding Shop.  Ingredients include puff pastry, raspberry jam and a paste made from almonds. The Bakewell Tart that has icing and cherries on the top is a variation, but we shall enjoy the traditional Bakewell Pudding (pictured above) with a cup of tea today.

Thank you for your visit.  I hope you have a good week.

Roses in June

The roses in our garden are late-blooming this year so I've been searching my photo archive from last year's visit to Haddon Hall.  Climbing up against the stonework of the house and rambling over mossy walls of the terraced gardens were some beauties.

        In the local park the first roses are beginning to bloom in the rose garden in front of the library.....

            and we've just noticed that the buds on one of our own rose bushes, Joie de Vivre, starting

            to open.

Botanical glasshouse beauty

Orchids and  perhaps Guzmania lingulata

I don't know what this plant is, but the flower 

looks like a butterfly from afar.

The flowers and other plants are real.

Of course, the birds are not,

but they do add to the exotic atmosphere
in the glasshouse.