Random thoughts and photos of my journey through life…
The last port of call on my weekend away was Hanbury Hall for lunch and gardens. The lunch was delicious and the grounds were nice to walk around despite the recent heavy rain making some of the routes impossible. It was quite a struggle to think of how to get to the pond.
11 Comments CherryPie on Jun 22nd 2009
The foolish man seeks happiness in the distance, the wise grows it under his feet.
James Oppenheim
4 Comments CherryPie on Jun 21st 2009
Last weekend I went to a wedding, it was a very informal affair and the wedding breakfast was in a Greek restaurant where we were served with a Meze. Here are the wedding cakes, the bottom picture shows how popular they were 
For more of this weeks PhotoHunt pictures check out tnchick.
34 Comments CherryPie on Jun 20th 2009
After the nice relaxing visit to Bowood there was a bit of time to spare before dinner so a trip to see the white horse at Westbury seemed like a good idea. That was until the slow trog through Devizes. Firstly there was a lot of traffic and also there seemed to be some sort of police emergency going on with sirens all over the place. I had to do emergency stops on two occasions to let speeding police vehicles get by.
Well the hill at Westbury was as cold as ever, the horse as big as ever, and the view as spectacular as ever if you ignore the cement factory which sort of spoils the landscape a bit.
14 Comments CherryPie on Jun 19th 2009
It took longer than it should have done to get to Bowood due to faulty programming of the SatNav (Ooops navigator).
The house is home to the Marquis and Marchioness of Lansdowne and has been open to the public since 1975. Whilst developing the house and gardens they have tried to provide something of interest for all ages whilst maintaining its historical distinction. I certainly enjoyed the visit.
The house has many interesting exhibits, paintings and artifacts. One of the ante-rooms to the library used to be a laboratory. This was where Joseph Priestley discovered oxygen gas on 1st August 1774. Subsequently the laboratory was used by Dr Jan Ingenhousz who discovered photosynthesis in plants and worked on inoculation against smallpox.
Of course I especially loved the gardens with their many styles and tiers. At one end of the garden are some ornamental steps which originally had a statue of a river god above them. This has been replaced by a striking female nude, which was commissioned by Lansdowne in 1978.
The house is surrounded by parkland which was designed by Capability Brown. It was lovely to walk down to the lake where there was a lovely view of the Doric temple. Tucked out of view just around the corner at the end of the lake is a water cascade and a hermits cave. There was even an arboretum which made up for the rained off visit to Westonbirt.
Then there was a stressful drive to Westbury, but more on that tomorrow!
8 Comments CherryPie on Jun 18th 2009
Following the lovely walk around Abbey House Gardens the plan was to go to Westonbirt Arboretum. On arrival it was time for a spot of lunch sitting outside in the sunshine looking at the unusual living roof garden that covers the top of the main cafe.
After lunch there was a short walk to the old aboretum which is the longer of the two walks. The sky suddenly turned a lot darker and I heard a loud rumbling noise. I was beginning to think it was time for a change of plan because there are lots of exposed places with no shelter on the walk.
Me: That sounds like thunder
Reply: Yes
Me: And we are going into the middle of a forest when there is going to be a storm???
No Reply: (carrying on walking)
Me: Can you just stop for a minute please!
No Reply: (but stopped walking)
Me: I don’t really want to go any further if it is going to rain because I don’t want to get soaked.
Reply: It isn’t going to rain I can’t feel rain in the air.
Famous last words, 10 seconds later the first drops of rain fell and there was a hasty retreat back to the covered shop and cafe area. It was a lucky escape, this was the Westonbirt Arboretum experience…
It is a shame that I was too slow to catch a video of all the people rushing out of the trees with raised umberellas. I found out later there had been severe weather warnings for that afternoon.
2 Comments CherryPie on Jun 17th 2009
Tucked away behind Malmesbury Abbey and its cloister garden is Abbey House Garden, the home of the Naked Gardeners. The current owners, Ian and Barbara Pollard, bought Abbey House in 1994 as a family home. In 1996 they decided to create a garden and open it to the public with a view to attracting visitors from all round the world. The garden was started with 2,000 roses but it now contains more than 10,000 different species of plants and trees, which gives it interest throughout the year. There are many different areas (rooms) in the garden and even a riverside walk. There is so much to say about the garden that I recommend you visit their website to see how wonderful the garden is. I would rank it in my top three gardens alongside Powis Castle and Hodnet Hall.
The day I visited it had rained heavily overnight and it was quite chilly first thing in the morning. But as I entered the garden, the sun came out making the garden look fresh and bright. Whilst walking by the river, someone struck up a conversation with me; it went as follows:
Him: Do you think you have managed to get some good photographs?
Me: I think I might have.
Him: I bet they will be put on your computer never to be seen again!
Me: I will probably put them on the internet so everyone can see them.
Him: (after a slight stunned pause) That is very grown up of you.
He then disappeared chatting to his companions.
Here a just a few of the many photographs I took in the garden, I am sure I will be sharing some more with you soon.
13 Comments CherryPie on Jun 16th 2009
