I can’t believe that I have been volunteering at Attingham Park for a year. My first post shift walk (after a taster session) was on February 8th 2024 to see the snowdrops.

You can view the post here.

I haven’t walked after my shifts for a couple of months due to the lighting levels for driving home. I don’t like driving along a dark busy road with oncoming dazzling headlights.

I love it when the evenings get lighter with increasing speed in January and into February. Today, the 11th February it was light enough for my first post shift walk of the year.

One year on from the beginning of my volunteering journey I enjoyed another post shift walk through the snowdrops and walled garden.

Mum is feeling a little unwell again and her medical practice policy has not allowed her to do what the GP told mum she must do (if she felt unwell again) following his recent assessment of her health after her latest stay in hospital.

We arrived in time for lunch and we both ordered smoked mackerel pate.  It being a sunny bank holiday sunday we had to wait longer than usual for our lunch to arrive which meant that I forgot to take a foody photo when it arrived.

We explored different parts of the garden than we had on our previous sunday visit. It was a joy to see the spring flowers in bloom.

We set the alarm early so that we could get the car to Autoglass in time for its 9am appointment.  Car checked in, we made our way to the nearby retail park, purchasing a few items from The Range and checking out bedside lamps in a lighting shop. We found the perfect one but unfortunately there was only one left and we need two. We settled down for a cuppa in the M&S café, planning things we might do for the remainder of the holiday.

When Autoglass rang to say the car was ready, we made our way back to pick it up. As we were leaving, the engineer who had fitted the new windscreen said ‘Don’t do it again!’

We drove to the Blickling Estate where we had arranged to meet Higgy and Mrs H. We had lunch then enjoyed a walk around the estate before visiting the house. We were then ready for another cuppa which we enjoyed outside in the sunshine. Once again wasps took a fancy to me and circled around my head causing me to have to stand up again. There must be something vaguely botanical in the hair products that I use.

The four of us finished our visit by exploring the estate further and walking around the walled garden. When we arrived back at the car park I realised that I had forgotten to pick up the guide book and it was a long walk back to the shop. I enquired at the car park entrance kiosk, only to find out that they had run out but that I could briefly park in another car park situated close to the house and shop and get one there.

It was too early to return to the hotel so we visited the quaint village of Horning for a short walk. Back at the hotel we freshened up after the sticky heat before joining Higgy and Mrs H on the hotel patio for a pre dinner drink. The room had been serviced and we noticed a second chair had mysteriously appeared in the room.

We dined in the hotel where we found the service to be good but we had to wait ages for our food to arrive. We sat up late, chatting outside on the hotel terrace. We were astounded to realise that it had been 15 years since we last met but the conversation carried on as if we had only seen each other a few days ago.

My afternoon walk was in Attingham Park, always a lovely place for a walk.

I enjoyed the walled garden in glorious sunshine whilst the rainclouds floated ever closer. As I left the garden the clouds started to release their watery content leading me to walk the woodland paths so I could keep relatively dry.

It was a beautiful refreshing walk, listening to rain and birdsong along the way

The morning weather looked unpromising so we tried to find a rainy day option for our adventures. This proved challenging because the things that inspired us were surprisingly all shut on Sunday’s! We opted to have lunch at home followed by a trip to a garden centre. On the way we stopped off for me to photograph local Jubilee ‘post box topper’.

After the photo shoot we set off on our afternoon excursion. The rain stopped and the sun came out lighting up the leafy trees that lined our route.  Our plans were short-lived, we failed to find the garden centre and on checking found that it was permanently closed. We quickly formulated a plan B and set off to the nearby Sugnall Walled Garden which is always a delight to visit. The in-car SatNav took us on a rather circuitous route but we got there eventually.

By the time we got there it was time for afternoon refreshments, we couldn’t resist the temptation of a ‘Naughty Cake’. Whilst we were waiting for the ladies to come back from delivering afternoon teas to a party in a garden room we got chatting to a regular visitor of the tea room. As we couldn’t decide on which cake to choose she suggested that we had two different ones and share them. We agreed this was a good idea and chose ‘ginger and rhubarb’ and ‘rosewater and pistachio’. The cake slices were split into two pieces and we were served our own individual portions. After the saga of our days adventure I wasn’t quite relaxed enough to remember to photograph the cake!

Naughty Cake consumed I enjoyed a walk around the walled garden whilst Mr C sat and kept tabs on what was happening in the Grand Prix. The garden was lush with vibrant green colours interspersed with the occasional flower. On the way back to the car I was treated with the unexpected delight of fluffy Moorhen chicks walking close to me.