Saturday morning

Yesterday Lesley and I had a lovely afternnoon at Hyde Hall - it was warm and sunny with a fresh breeze at times.  We couldn't have wanted a better day.  When we arrived we had lunch first and it was delicious - roasted red pepper and sweet potato soup with walnut bread.  I wish I'd taken a photo and even more that I had the recipes.   Lesley had a lovely drink - apple and rhubarb juice.
Then it was up the hill to the gardens.

I did!  The grass was like a lush carpet, so soft, warm and yielding.

Dramatic, isn't it - I only saw one of this, whatever it is.  Anyone know?

Hyde Hall is one of the higher points of Essex, so there are some rather attractive views from various points.  This was about half way up.

One of several large ponds/small lakes.  The walk around this one was shady and fresh and very peaceful, despite a more or less full car park.

If you look closely, you can see that this sedum is covered in wasps.  All the sedums (seda?) were, it was weird.  They all clustered on the flower heads and the others around were ignored.

There were a number of African inspired sculptures around.  I particularly liked this one, called 'Our First Child'.

Pretty and unexpected, just sitting in the corner of one of the lawns.

This was called 'Circle of Life'.  Simple and effective.

Of course, we went into the shop and I treated myself to some very attractive bulbs - well, not the bulbs exactly but the flowers that will grow from them, including a tulip that looks like a rose, there are so many layers of petals.  Maybe, just maybe, this year I will remember to plant my bulbs - perhaps tomorrow.  After all, it IS September now.