Monday 28 March 2016

Easter Monday Day Out

Hello again - hope you had a good Easter! We had a lovely Easter Sunday. With our family here there were 11 of us for lunch, and even J came back from university for the day. Despite the awful weather outside we had a cosy get-together including an indoor egg hunt with my two little nephews and a spot of fairy-cake decorating. It was one of those special days that we'll remember, and now that the clocks have gone forward it gets dark after 7.00pm which is something to celebrate.
During the night there were high winds and lashing rain, but we awoke to sunshine and decided to make the most of it by heading out for the day. D was at work (yes, my youngest is now 16 and has a part-time job - where does the time go?) and B is recovering from a nasty cold, so P and I decided to use our National Trust membership and headed out to Dyrham Park near Bath. It was our first ever National Trust day trip with none of our offspring, a new experience for us.


It was hard to find a parking space when we arrived as it was very busy and full of families with small children going on the chocolate egg-trail. We'd been there several years ago and decided to walk down the hill, rather than catch the minibus, to the house looking out for deer on the way. There wasn't a single one to be seen, but the view was good.


As ever, once inside the house it was the little details that caught my eye.





I loved the fact that the second-hand bookshop is housed in the kitchen, and smiled at the novel use of the sink.


Outside the gardens are large-scale and formal, with water-gardens too.


What a lot of digging has been done in these huge beds ready for summer planting! I couldn't help but admire the lovely soil.



There were pockets of spring flowers here and there, and the colours were intense.






I stopped at this wonderful moss and lichen-coated tree. It's amazing that life-forms co-exist in this way.




I wandered around the next corner and, oh my goodness, I was in heaven! Hellebore heaven to be exact. They lined several flower beds and quite took my breath away. I love them a bit more as every spring passes. (Warning: a good few hellebore photos now follow!).













After all this hellebore-induced excitement (during which P inexplicably wandered off) we stepped through a door in a wall and found ourselves in the 'lost terraces'; a steep-sided wooded hill which has been restored to a series of terraces from an original engraving.


I sat and sunned myself on this beautiful carved bench and inhaled the wonderful smell of wild garlic. It won't be long before we go out foraging for it locally, I think. 


The woods were full of it.


And above us mistletoe was growing in the trees.


Tree stumps have been inventively carved into signposts. This is something which I'm seeing more of these days, and really like.


Bright, sparkling celandines dotted the ground, their waxy petals reflecting the sun.


I also saw my first violets of the year.


There are few sights more spring-like than a bank of primroses. 


They are special little flowers, pale and milky yellow with the softest green leaves.



By now we'd climbed higher then the rooftops of the house itself, which gave us a striking and unusual view of its architecture.


The restored dry stone walls were also beautiful and appealingly moss-covered.

  
It was a good uphill walk, and soon we'd come full-circle and headed back down to the house and tea-garden. The sun was warm enough to sit outside in, so we decided to have a cream tea with tea, blackcurrant jam and Cornish clotted cream. We shared the last fruit scone in the cafe. That way it didn't feel so naughty.


Throughout the courtyards and tea garden were many pots of deep blue hyacinths, and their perfume drifted on the warm air. You can almost smell them in these photos!



We headed home after this, and as we drove it poured with rain. We counted ourselves very lucky with today's weather and I'm looking forward to more of it.


We're back to work/school tomorrow, but just for four days and then it's the school holidays - hooray! 
Thank you for coming on our day trip - see you soon x

32 comments:

  1. I went to Dyrham Park last year with a friend - it's a great day out isn't it? We were a bit later in the year though, so missed those gorgeous hellebores. Your cream tea photo had me salivating! xx

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. It certainly is, and there's lots to see. I would imagine that those big beds are full of colour in the summer time.
      Cathy x

      Delete
  2. Dyrham Park looks a wonderful place to visit. I would have been in raptures over the hellebores too! The cream tea looks so good, I love it that they served it with blackcurrant jam, as a non-strawberry jam lover this would have been perfect for me but so many places only offer strawberry jam. xx

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Yes, strawberry jam can be a bit predictable can't it? With this cream tea we bought the individual components separately so were able to choose the jam - perhaps more restaurants should try this.
      Cathy x

      Delete
  3. What a lovely Easter you had, that is my kind of day out I would have loved it, I love the Hellebore's, I got one a few weeks ago.x

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. How lovely - I warn you, though, they're addictive!
      Cathy x

      Delete
  4. Oh that scone, yum. It's a beautiful place isn't it. We drove past on the Friday and wondered what on earth was going on there it was so busy. Glad you had a good time. CJ xx

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I can imagine that Good Friday was busy there too. I think a lot of people think 'National Trust' at Easter.
      Cathy x

      Delete
  5. Thanks for the tour of Dyrham - a favourite stop-off point when we're en route to Pembrokeshire. I love the spring flowers you've highlighted - violets, celandine and primroses are my favourite spring flowers and look lovely growing in damp mossy turf.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. They do, such delicate but hardy little flowers.
      Cathy x

      Delete
  6. What a lovely post. Thank you so much for taking me with you on your day out. I thoroughly enjoyed it! Ruth.

    ReplyDelete
  7. Thank you for sharing these wonderful photos.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Many thanks, Elizabeth - it was hard to whittle them down, I took so many!
      Cathy x

      Delete
  8. What a lovely day out! My lot often wander off when I get excited about plants however my eldest son has suddenly developed a passion for terrariums, ferns, moss etc now pours over my books and often wants detailed planty chats and conversations!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. That's nice - I have enjoyed many such chats with my son who's gone on to study Biology at university. I miss our conversations when he's away, and we have a catch-up when he's home again. Ferns and moss are fascinating, aren't they? You can see why people collect them.
      Cathy x

      Delete
  9. That was a lovely day out, just the kind we like to have too. We usually go to Culzean Castle at Easter though we missed it this year. Hx

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Yes, it is fun to have a day out at Easter - it sort of heralds the outdoor life again after the winter.
      Cathy x

      Delete
  10. That's a great day out! All those pretty flowers! Dyrham Park is the house that has quite a walk to get there and is down in the dip, I think. Those scones do look rather delicious. x

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Ye, that's right. It seems odd that it's not up on the hill where it would be more impressive.
      Cathy x

      Delete
  11. It looks like you had a lovely day out. I find I breath easier if it's just Mike & myself visiting NT properties. Especially the houses xx

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I know what you mean - just being able to please ourselves is more relaxing, and inside the house there's no having to keep an eye on small people. We've done a lot of those quizzes in years gone by.
      Cathy x

      Delete
  12. What a lovely day that must have been. I'm very pleased to have found you through Elizabeth's Welsh Hills Again.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thank you - it's lovely to have you dropping by!
      Cathy x

      Delete
  13. He wandered off during hellebore scrutiny? How very odd. X

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I know. I shall have to enlighten him on the delights of the hellebore.
      Cathy x

      Delete
  14. What a great place to visit, lovely photos too, and a lovely tour, thank you :)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. You're welcome! Thank you for coming along with me.
      Cathy x

      Delete
  15. It is such a nourishing thing to do, recording the highlights of a memorable experience. I love your hellebore photos and like you, can't get enough of them.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Yes, special days are worth recording, aren't they? I'm glad you're still enjoying the hellebore love!
      Cathy x

      Delete
  16. This place has everything! A lovely house, a garden, a book store AND scones. My idea of heaven.
    Amalia
    xo

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Yes, I think most National Trust properties have these components, and that's why we love going to them so much.
      Cathy x

      Delete

Thank you so much for visiting my blog. I don't always get time to reply, but I look forward to and love to read your comments - they really do make my day x