Rumi

Saint Augustine

Rather than go out for a meal yesterday we took my father in law out for the day.  He decided on the National Trust property Berrington Hall.  We decided to surprise him with a little detour on the way and stopped of at Westonbury Mill Water Gardens.  It is delightful garden with interesting follies which I knew he would love.  Since the last time we visited I knew that the latest folly, a water powered cuckoo clock had been completed.

We strolled round the gardens and ended up at the cuckoo clock just before mid-day and waited to see the cuckoo emerge. There was a noise like a toilet flushing followed shortly after by birdsong although there was no sign of a cuckoo.  At this point I saw the reflection of someone (who looked like the owner) behind me on the other side of the water but when I turned around there was no-one there. All of a sudden the garden owner was standing next to us saying ‘I am not sure there is time to rescue it’.  He went up the stairs and did some adjustments and the Cuckoo finally decided to make an appearance.  I thanked him and then he left, leaving us to enjoy his creation. We then continued on the garden tour ending up enjoying lunch sitting outside in the sun before making our way to Berrington Hall.

We were in for another treat when we got to Berrington Hall.  There was a display of ‘Georgian Jousting’ taking place just outside the front of the house. After the spectacular display we visited the house before making our way back to our respective homes.

After freshening up my in-laws came round to ‘chez nous’ and we all enjoyed salmon and boulangere potatoes that had been prepared by Mr C earlier in the day.  A good day was had by all