Forde Abbey in February

On the Friday night of half term we went out with our next door neighbours to a local pub to sample the food of the new chef. The food was lovely but we had to wait an hour and a half for the starter and a further hour and a half for the main course! The company was good and so the wait didn't seem that long. I only hope the chef improves his turnaround or else the pub will loose its customers.

On Saturday we headed  to Forde Abbey. I have blogged about this place before. It is one of my favourite destinations. We purchased an annual ticket last year as we tend to visit about six times a year.

At this time of the year the cafe is shut as was the shop - an honesty box was in operation at the entrance.

I love that very British custom of trust!

The grounds were spectacular. Look at the carpet of crocuses - just beautiful! There weren't many people there and at times it felt as if we had the place to ourselves and to dream that this was our home!

In the field were some lovely horses - with no angry farmer to shout at us! See previous post ..

The beech look-out stands impressive in the background with daffodils and crocuses all around.

We fed the trout with some bread which we had brought with us. They were very, very greedy and wouldn't let the ducks or swan anywhere near!

We walked down this path and were amazed to see glorious pinks in the distance. The camellias and rhodedendrons were open. I always thought that they opened towards the end of March / beginning of April.

 An unexpected treat!

I love the dark pink / fuschia colour against the very dark green of the shiny leaves.

I loved the pale pink of the rhodedendron - it would make a lovely corsage!

The round window of the Church.

Our Daughter enjoying the sunshine.

 Horses on the estate.

Another flower which would make a wonderful corsage. I love the dark colour with a hint of purple.

Last week my parents came to stay. They were supposed to be with us over the Christmas period but all that snow prevented them from travelling from Anglesey to Hampshire - 320 miles door to door.

It was nice to see them and they were able to help us out by collecting Our Daughter from school. Normally they only travel down during the school holidays so it was great for both Our Daughter and my mum and dad.

On Friday a colleague from work was getting married so we had a day off  to attend the wedding.

It was a lovely day. The bride had a fantastic off the shoulder dress and looked radiant.

The happy couple are now on their honeymoon in Mexico - A country I would like to visit.

All my travels have been either in this country or Europe apart from a trip to Japan to visit a school friend when I was 21. My friend was out there teaching English to the Japanese. She was only supposed to be there for a year - she's still there - Married with two children.

There are so many places I would like to visit - time as always and money, of course, being the precursers.

Until next time.

June.