Dowlish Wake - Part Two

A continuation of yesterdays post which saw us at a little village in Somerset, Dowlish Wake. We were there to visit a garden which was taking part in the NGS open gardens for charity scheme. The garden was packed full to the brim with beautiful plants and flowers. The downpour which had occured the night before was a particular bonus as I could try to be a bit more artistic with my camera skills!

I loved the spikes on the stem of this poppy. I also liked the greeness of it and the tufty bits on the as yet, unopened poppy.

I love these ornamental onion flower heads - I think they're called alliums. 

They're almost as decorative when a bit past their best than when at their best! If only the same were true of me!

There were many of these in the garden and they were thriving.

I love irises. Can you see all the little creatures on this one and the colours are spectacular. I love the patterns on the petals.

Normally you see a white version of this pink / cerise flower growing wild in the hedgerow and it can be a nuisance as it can smother other plants. Is it a convulvulous?

A daisy type flower on a much grander scale to the common garden daisy.

A peachy lily.

Raindrops on leaves. That song from the "Sound of Music" - "Raindrops on roses ... These are a few of my favourite things" keeps going around in my head as I am typing this.

More raindrops but not on roses - there was such a photo on yesterdays post though.

More raindrops!

After we'd finished seeing and photographing the garden we were thinking of our tummies. We had been recommended to go to Perrys Cider Mill for lunch. We took a stroll from the garden and walked the very short distance to the Mill in search of a light bite.

Dowlish Wake is a small village. According to Wikipedia and who am I to challenge it, the village has a population of 293! It has many thatched cottages. We passed some of them en route to the Cider Mills.

We saw some rain spattered plants.

We came across some delightful cottages.

We came across the Dower House which dates back from 1664 and was leased to female members of the Speke family during the later 18th century giving the building its name. Who are the Speke family I hear you ask? Well, John Hanning Speke took part in expeditions to trace the source of the Nile. He discovered Lake Victoria and identified Ripon Falls as the source of the Nile, which was confirmed by Henry Morton Stanley in a later expedition. Speke was killed by his own gun whilst hunting with his cousin and Dr. David Livingstone attended his funeral! So now you know a bit about the Speke family! Such interesting discoveries in such a small place.

We walked past the 17th century packhorse bridge.

Our Daughter was photographed near it.

And again.

And then Our Daughter and the Other Half were photographed on the bridge!

Some of the thatched cottages in the village. It really is a picturesque, tranquil place. There seemed to be only us and some birds singing in the trees and some bees buzzing around.

A closer look at one of the semi-detached cottages. I like the thatched porch.

Shortly after this photo was taken we arrived at the Cider Mills and had a lovely lunch sat on one of the tables outside. The sun was shining, the food was delicious and the Other Half sampled some of the cider!

After lunch we walked back to the car in the Church car park and before we made our way to our next destination, Hinton St. George - we visited the Church.

Until next time.

June.