Gilbert White's House and Garden, Selborne

Today we went to Gilbert White's House - mainly for a relaxing walk around the garden. The house is situated in the village of Selborne. He is best known for writing "The Natural History and Antiquities of Selborne." He was born in 1720 and believed in studying living birds and animals in their natural habitat which was an unusual approach at the time, as most naturalists preferred to carry out detailed examinations of dead specimens.

Although it is not a large garden - it is a lovely place to while away an hour or two. We had visited the house previously and so, this time we decided that we would visit the garden and bring the dog with us as dogs are allowed on a lead.

There are no photographs of the dog as he wouldn't listen to his name being called - there were too many things to see of interest and to try and chase! The birds in the trees must have been laughing at Our Crazy Hound trying his best to jump up and catch them - he's a dachshund so has short legs and was on a lead = no chance.

Talking of chasing - On our way to Selborne we drove past a lavender field, out of the corner of my eye I thought that I saw something moving which could have been a black and white domestic rabbit. I mentioned this to the Other Half who wasn't convinced and I began to think that it may have been a plastic bag blowing in the wind. There was only one way to find out, turn the car around and go and have a look. When we arrived at the field all three of us immediately realized that there was a domestic rabbit running loose in the lavender field.

We got out of the car to try and see if we could catch it as otherwise it risked being run over as there was no hedge to the field. Suffice to say we didn't catch the rabbit but for a while we resembled something of a sketch from "Benny Hill!"

The peace and tranquility of the gardens.

I had hoped that the daffodils would have been open but they were still in bud.

Our Daughter did some tree climbing.

There were many clumps of snowdrops.

Many trees had cones.

There we have it, Gilbert White's garden. A shame that the daffs weren't out but a nice, relaxing day out apart from the mad dash around the lavender field to try and catch the rabbit who had escaped from its hutch. We chased it back to its garden which was next door to the lavender field so I hope it has the sense to stay there as being mainly white it would be easy prey for an owl, hawk, buzzard or indeed a fox.

After our trip around the garden we then had a wander around the Village and popped into the Church before driving home to help Our Daughter practise for her ESB (English Studies Board) Examination on Thursday.

She has to read from a book of her choice, recite a poem and give a presentation for three minutes.

She has chosen a Just William book - "Still William" and has chosen the Chapter - "The Little Girl in White" - William's introduction to Violet Elizabeth!

The poem is "The Kitten at Play" by William Wordsworth and her presentation is about Evacuation during the Second World War - hence our recent visit to the Imperial War Museum in London.

I hope it all goes well for her on Thursday!

Until next time.

June.