A lovely Autumn's Day out at Wrest Park

Still taking advantage of the beautiful Autumn days...we popped over to Wrest Park today.  Although we go quite a lot, with the changing seasons there is always something difficult to photograph, or the same thing that looks different with changes in light, perspective, foliage etc...

The gardens looked as spectacular as ever.

A cheeky little robin.

The colours on the house were spectacular as the leaves are changing colour.

The bridge from a completely different angle from what I have taken before.

The bath house also taken from a different angle.

Beautiful flowers

Busy bee!

Wonderful blue sky.

A lovely day and the perfect opportunity to be outdoors and soaking up some warmth and Vitamin D!

Friday's Walk - Ashridge Estate & Aldbury Village

With Friday being a lovely bright Autumn day we headed off out to Ashridge Estate for a walk.

There is a great cafe at Ashridge Estate open all year round so we arrived for an early lunch before heading off.  This time we decided to try a completely different route which ended up in the charming village of Aldbury.

A charming thatched house is seen over the hedge.

Cottages with open gardens.

The charm of this village is evident by the houses seen.

I stopped and spoke to one gentleman who had just come out of his house and he told me he had lived  in the village for 20 years and never tired of it.  He said that the location has been used for various TV shows and films over the years.

All so pretty - and of course the lovely bright day adds to the beauty.

Village pond.

Stocks and Whipping post.

The village church St John the Baptist

This quintessential English church was restored in 1867.  Apparently (as we couldn't go in due to having Percy with us) it is notable for the Verney Chapel which is separated from the nave by a screen of stone.  The church contains memories of the families Hides and Harcourts who left charities to the poor of the parish.  It also contains a monument of Sir Robert Wittingham who was slain at the battle of Tewkesbury in 1471.

One of the village pubs.

More photos as we walked around this charming village.  I took quite a few as hope to paint a couple of the cottages at some stage.

This scene has obviously been taken before by numerous visitors as it was featured on some postcards and on the Wikipedia page of the village!

A Good Weekend Spent in the Garden.

The weather has been especially kind to us this last week - although not before time!  The weekend was spent in the garden...I have been planning out a border for the side of the garden.  I forgot to take a 'before' photo...but have taken one just after I started laying it out.

I want this area along the fence line to look a little more defined...we were originally going to put in wooden half round edgings, but the problem with that is the wood rots...and then on Thursday I saw an edging a friend had done in her garden - digging bricks in and making a 'mowing strip' edge.  I started laying the bricks out yesterday and then finished today.  I had to carry four bricks at a time in a bag through the garage and conservatory from the front of the house to the back...I think I did 20 trips in all!

The edge is currently two bricks high as I wanted to see what it looks like.  I still has to be 'dug' in so that it is level with the lawn, although I quite like this effect.

I raked up the leaves and did some general tidying up.

I levelled the bird bath.

I also removed a tree/shrub that was growing right behind our maple. 

 I really don't like having to cut down trees, I find it very difficult to do -  but it was too big to dig up and move and was starting to encroach too much.  We really should have moved it much sooner and then we wouldn't have had to cut it down.  A lesson learned!

 The result is that it already looks a little lighter and clearer. 

 Just waiting for my husband to dig out the roots now. 

Again I forgot to take a 'before' photo.

I put up two bird boxes as well.

Hopefully these will be used come spring time.

Lastly I planted the buddleia 

Some apples growing on our small apple tree - not quite ready yet.

Some roses still putting on a pretty display.

Some of the apple harvest from our larger tree.   

I will probably part stew these and freeze them so I can make apple crumble and other deserts in the winter months.

A good weekend indeed.  Still a lot of work to do, but progress being mad.