We Visit Burrow Farm Gardens Again ...

Hello there! Many "Thanks" for your kind comments on my last post. I informed the OH that a Blogger had asked whether I exhibit, meaning my photos. His reply - "You do exhibit strange behaviour, sometimes!"

Thank You to Penny for that compliment but I only ever take photos on the automatic setting on my camera and would go to pieces if I had to use the manual! Having said that there is a Beginners Course at a local Adult Learning Centre and I am tempted - what do you think? Should I go for it and learn more about cameras? I am normally quite a shy person when in a crowd of unknown people so I am a bit unsure.

I'll let you know what I decide as the course starts on Thursday for 10 weeks - 10.00 a.m. to 12 noon

and there may not be room on it anyway.

Anyhow, moving on to what we've been up to. On Friday night we drove down to our base in Devon.

On Saturday we woke up to sunshine and agreed that we would have to spend the day outdoors and came to the swift decision that we would all like to go to Burrow Farm Gardens - the OH and I because we like the peace and tranquillity of the place and the wonderful gardens. KP because "I like the scones and playing with the dog!"

When we arrived we paid our entrance fee into the Honesty Box and walked up to the Terrace Garden.

We were gobsmacked by the amount of butterflies that we saw. Many of you have commented on the lack of butterflies this year and I have agreed with those sentiments. I now can reveal to you that I know exactly where those butterflies have been hiding - Burrow Farm Gardens. We must have seen literally dozens and dozens of Red Admirals, hundreds of Tortoiseshell Butterflies and many others which I will demonstrate to you by my photos.

We came across some Peacock Butterflies.

And they opened their wings wide for a good photo opportunity.

I snapped away at the Red Admirals - to start with not believing how many there were. It was literally a question of taking your pick of which one you wanted to photograph. I was a happy bunny!

Another Red Admiral poses.

We walked past the old barn to the Cafe where we were hoping to grab some lunch.

As we sat down to eat who should come and pester us for food but this sweet little robin.

I'm sure you can all guess who was secretly giving it some food - KP, of course!

After our lunch - which was very tasty, we headed towards The Millennium Garden passing an old cart. I loved its colours.

Once in The Millennium Garden we were once again surprised by the amount of butterflies that were stationary on plants and flitting about.

The next three photos I took one after the other and I have included them just to show you how still those Red Admirals were.

Just to demonstrate that they were living creatures they moved ever so slightly.

But at all times remained poised, almost in anticipation of being photographed.

We walked past the lions head water feature and I admired the spiders web - looks almost like a headscarf!

This garden is the work of a husband and wife team. I have commented on their hard work before. They moved here in the 1950's and over the years set about creating the marvellous gardens.

The Red Admirals had taken a fancy to the sedums.

The Millennium Garden.

A Comma Butterfly.

Again this variety was posing.

Another view of The Millennium Garden.

As well as the Red Admirals taking a fancy to the sedums the Tortoiseshell Butterflies seemed to have the same attraction to this plant.

And posed nicely!

It is true what they say that butterflies are attracted to the colour purple as the shots above and below demonstrate.

This flower attracted both Tortoiseshells and Commas.

The Comma Butterfly pirhouetted so that I could see it in full circle.

I love the delicacy of the wings and the fluffy body!

Butterflies are such stunning creatures.

We passed more sedums and saw even more Red Admirals.

The weather was warm but just so that we wouldn't forget that we are now in September we espied some berries. Red and green always makes me think of Christmas - which isn't that far away!

We ambled leisurely through the trees heading towards what KP has named "The Dragonfly Pool" and you'll see why later.  No prizes for guessing as the clue is in the name!

More berries.

And even more.

I was fascinated by this trees growth.

We admired the girl with the watering can.

We came across the Summer House.

And noticed that the hydrangeas here were still thriving.

This place is just spectacular.

More hydrangeas - a lovely pink hue.

A gentler shade of hydrangea.

We arrive at "The Dragonfly Pool!"

There were many dragonflies but this is the only one that posed!

Next to "The Dragonfly Pool" there is another pond but more boggy.

After sitting and contemplating by the ponds we walked back towards the Cafe intent on a cream tea!

Along the way we spotted more berries.

And more.

After our cream tea - the OH went to the Garden Centre part and KP and I returned to The Millennium Garden to look once again at the butterflies knowing that this was possibly the last time this year that we would see so many.

As I was taking this photo KP was calling out to me "Mum, there's a massive hornet here, you must come and take a photo of it." Alas, dear readers I was too late but I did see the biggest ever hornet that I have ever seen! I only wish that I had captured it on camera but it was not to be!

We did spot more Red Admirals - again on the sedums.

We hung around this area as it was where we had seen the hornet but it did not make a re-appearance!

We walked back towards The Garden Centre and spotted this bee in a nasturtium.

And took a closer look.

We said our final goodbyes to the Red Admirals.

One last photo of the butterflies - I promise!

Before KP saw the owners dog and went to play fetch.

I do apologise for the amount of photos in this post - I have gone slightly overboard. Well, more than slightly. I just wanted you to get a flavour of this wonderful place and I think that I have managed this.

A few hours later and the weather turned nasty - rain, rain and more rain!

We were so glad that we had ventured out on Saturday as Sunday was a complete washout!

Until next time,

June.