16th May 2008 And a visit to Wallington

Off we went into the grey morning overland via Rothbury though some scenic rolling countryside to Cambo, and the National Trust Stately Home called "Wallington" once the country seat of the influential Trevelyan family.This is a great house in very extensive grounds which are a mile across in all directions, and contain lakes and a very impressive walled garden, which was our destination for today.

We started off passing through the arch under the unusual clock which has only a single hour hand and had a very tasty (though not cheap!) lunch in the Restaurant housed in the old stables.

As usual there were happy school groups having their picnic lunch on the lawn in the courtyard.

It's a 500 yard walk past the ornamental lake to the walled garden, and though the clear water you can see water lilies rising to the surface prior to spreading their floating leaves in the sunshine: Geese and moorhens were feeding their young at the water's edge among the bullrushes.

Once inside the wall garden there was a large conservatory with exotic flowers to enjoy, and a wide range of outdoor ones too many out earlier in the year than one might expect anywhere else.

Returning to site mid afternoon we rested till tea time as usual

To our amazement the clouds cleared and we had the first blue sky since last weekend, so we quickly washed up the tea time pots and drove down to Craster for a walk (Here's a panorama of four images)

And a telephoto of a Microlight that buzzed the harbour on the Fuji S9600

It was a very pleasant day, all things considered!