Hi. This black swan yesterday was interesting. It came right up to me to pose for photos, what a show off! I saw it with another couple (of people) later opening up its wings, there were some white bits underneath its wings. Maybe it’s just been spray painted black on the outside. Ha ha!
I’ve perked up a bit today. I don’t like bank holidays. They get me all out of sync. They sound like a good idea until your work schedule gets all messed up, you have less days to do the same amount of work and then when you try to go somewhere to have fun everybody else is doing the same thing and it’s too ***** crowded. Usually we don’t bother to go anywhere for this reason, but yesterday we decided to visit Claremont Landscape Garden, National Trust in Esher. This involved going on the M25 with the M25 traffic… Zzzzzzz, but actually that wasn’t too bad, we’d just got used to the empty roads during lockdown. There are still too many drivers around/too many people alive in the South East of England (oops, did I really say that?).
The overly jolly lady on arrival informed us we were limited to 2 hours for our visit due to the bank holiday rush, even though we’d bought timed entry slots that didn’t specify a time limit. This wasn’t a problem as the gardens aren’t that big, but nearly became a problem as the café was probably the most inefficient in the world. 45 minutes to microwave some potato wedges, I kid you not. This lady in the reflection (not me by the way) looks really fed up … hungry… waiting for her food!
By the time we’d finished lunch the bins were all overflowing and no one on hand to empty them. They could have done with at least one if not two more staff members.
Anyway, enough of my criticisms, we had a nice walk, it’s a beautiful place, there weren’t too many people on the walk. It is a very historic garden having been designed in the early 1700s. Lovely greenery!
Look at these magnificent chestnuts.
Stunning view from the top.
The grass amphitheatre was interesting.
This is Claremont House just glimpsed through the trees, designed by Capability Brown. What a funny name, Capability. I expect it looked good on his CV!!! He did seem to get a lot of work in those days.
This tower is called Belvedere Tower. Personally I thought it was a bit creepy. It was closed behind some old iron gates, like something out of a Dickens’ novel. I thought when I zoomed in the photos I might see a figure at the window with a head under their arm..
I preferred the folly. David remarked there was no bridge to get onto the island there, but the lake was so shallow in a pair of wellies you probably would have made it.
The ducklings were cute, so fluffy. They came right up to me hoping for bread I think.. I didn’t have any but gave them lots of compliments instead about their fluffiness and cuteness! We had a moment.
The trees were beautiful.
Lots of big, old yew trees.
There were some fantastic reflections going on in the lake.
We couldn’t quite figure out what these white bits were in the water… ? from the bullrushes ? Or ? feathers?
Arty farty shot with a rock in the foreground..
Some nice yellow stuff… ? Broom.
And that concludes the nature photographic Waffle tour for the day.
On the dinner front, it’s smelling delicious… Nigel Slater’s sausages braised in white wine.. with mashed potatoes, yummy yum yum. Humble sausages elevated into gourmet cuisine.. that’s the plan anyway.
The Windsor Waffle 