Lanhydrock, a National Trust Stroll

Last Sunday afternoon I paid a flying visit to Lanhydrock, a National Trust property in Cornwall. Arriving just before 2.30 there wasn’t much time to linger, and after the bluebells, the grounds beckoned.
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Down the long drive we go.
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Here’s the gatehouse.
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First look at the formal gardens, with the chapel in the background.
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Part of the gatehouse door.
It’s raining so I’m going inside the house and I may take you one day, but for now you can see the view through some of the windows.

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After exploring the vast house full of treasures great and small, I resisted the gift shop. Luckily my friend didn’t, so there was fudge to share 🙂 and this door led to the courtyard.
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Where an equally handsome door was firmly closed.
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We head around the corner, where a very pristine garden waits.

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Which isn’t really my cup of tea, I prefer a far less structured, wild look, but I can still admire one occasionally. The rain is annoying now, the mizzely kind that while not heavy, get’s you very damp. We walk back through the gatehouse,

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wishing for more time to explore the windy paths.

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And back up the long drive to where we began, passing the bluebells growing on top of the banks, with late primroses at the bottom.

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I’m sharing my Lanhydrock visit with Jo. She’s been travelling Europe for weeks, but I think she’s still walking for Mondays,

Very Wild Flowers

Jude invites us to share images of wild flowers for the month of May, and this one is about as wild as you can get. Luckily she doesn’t seem to say that they can’t be exotic, because this one was taken on the banks of Kinabatanga river in Borneo.

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I don’t know what it is, it looks quite like a streptocarpus, but I think they originate in South Africa? Visit Jude to join her Garden Challenge, which has a different them each month.

Paula’s Thursday Special, Scattered.

Paula at Lost in Translation says that when things are scattered, they are spread out all over the place. That sounds a bit like my desk, but we won’t go there!

Instead, look at the way this white lichen is scattered on the bark of this tree, it looks like paint has been flicked around.

IMG_3932Speaking of bark, Meg has shared some tactile Polish trees.