… at Attingham Park
Lunch and an afternoon stroll with friends. What more could a girl ask for 
6 Comments CherryPie on Apr 15th 2025
Two of the Green Iguanas that reside at Stratford-upon-Avon Butterfly Farm.
The green iguana’s extensive range comprises the rain forests of northern Mexico, Central America, the Caribbean Islands, and southern Brazil. They spend most of their lives in the canopy, descending only infrequently to mate, lay eggs, or change trees.
Primarily herbivores, iguanas are active during the day, feeding on leaves, flowers, and fruit. They generally live near water and are excellent swimmers. If threatened, they will leap from a branch, often from great heights, and escape with a splash to the water below. They are also tough enough to land on solid ground from as high as 40 feet and survive.
8 Comments CherryPie on Apr 11th 2025
The Mexican Red Knee lives on the Pacific Coast of Mexico in dry forest and desert habitats
Whe threatened they will not hisitate to flick hairs from their abdomen using their back legs. We call these ‘urticating Hairs’ and they can cause itchiness, swelling respiratory issues if inhaled.
Female Red Knee tarantulas can live to by as old as 30, whereas males rarely live past 10 years old.
Their diet consists of insects, frogs and the occasional mouse.*
*Information from a signboard next to the Tarantulas
10 Comments CherryPie on Apr 11th 2025
We spent the morning looking at temporary residential care options for my mum who has still not fully recovered from her recent bout of delirium. We have a winner but will check out a few other options before making a decision.
After our visits to care homes it was time for lunch. We hesitated only briefly before deciding to return to Hodnet Hall, one of our favourite places to have lunch. This time I chose humous wraps. After lunch I couldn’t resist the short walk to see the Magnolias again, they are magnificent and the sunshine was showing them off to perfection.
Later we visited mum to find that she was not accepting visitors. She had once again refused to have her hair cut after looking forward to the pampering session for days and was giving the care workers a hard time.
We left…
8 Comments CherryPie on Apr 9th 2025
A couple of weeks ago Hodnet Hall Gardens opened its doors for the 2025 season. We had other plans on the first two Sunday’s that it was open, a Chesterfield overnighter and a small family gathering for mother’s day and my mum’s birthday.
Today was the perfect opportunity for our first visit of the year. The sun was kind to us allowing us to sit outside and enjoy our lunch in the sunshine. Although served differently the smoked mackerel pâté was every bit as good as I remembered it from our previous lunches at Hodnet Hall.
Following lunch we strolled around the gardens, enjoying the spring flowers in the spring sunshine.
A perfect afternoon.
6 Comments CherryPie on Apr 6th 2025
Giant leaf insects are native to the tropical forests of Malasia and Indonesia.
The leaf-like camouflage of these insects allows them to avoid being eaten whilst they eat the surrounding leaves.
However this camouflage is so effective that herbivores and other leaf insect do eat them by mistake.
Giant leaf insects are parthenogenic meaning that they can reproduce without mating. When doing so they only produce female offspring causing males to be very rare.*
*Information from a signboard next to the Leaf Insects
4 Comments CherryPie on Apr 5th 2025
