Today

Today we decided to go to Pot House Hamlet which is an area round Silkstone Garden Centre. On arrival, Lennie suggested we have a drink before we explore. We sat at a table overlooking a river with all sorts of ducks and geese on it. I waited outside while Lennie paid. 'That was the most expensive cup of tea ever' he said. For one tea and one cappucino it was £5.10!

We then went outside and found a track which we followed. We wondered what all the stones were, until we came across a little wagon filled with flowers. This had been a small track that coal wagons used to run on!

We followed it for quite a way, then decided to return and have a look at the garden centre. When we got back, we discovered that the garden centre was really just rows and rows of overgrown, very untidy tangled flowerbeds, set amongst lots of paths. What a waste of time!

A wasted journey as far as we were concerned, and we wouldn't recommend it to anyone:0(

Oh well, you can't win 'em all! We then took Pickles for her usual play around, and fed the horses. That reminds me. I must take a photo of 'John' our favourite horse. We always take him a nice bag of carrots and he always comes to us when we call.

Wentworth Castle Gardens

Today, instead of a cache, we decided to go to Wentworth Castle Gardens. It was a perfect day, and it took us about 1.5 hours to walk round them. The paths were all newly laid as they are in the process of renovating a lot of the buildings and gardens. There wasn't much to see in the way of flowers or flowering shrubs, but the distant scenery was lovely.

We came across Stainborough Castle, which is a Gothic Romantic Folly. Lennie climbed the tower to a veiwing platform which is 600 feet above sea level. It was a spiral staircase which frightened me! Far too strenuous for me. I waited in the grounds below:0)

The picture above is me waiting below for Lennie!

We also saw the conservatory, famous after featuring on the BBC TV series 'Restoration'. This elegant cast iron glass house remains derelict, but restoration will begin as soon as enough money has been raised. I couldn't get a photo of this as it was behind a high wire fence, and supported totally by scaffolding. Trees were growing through the roof, and glass was missing. You could see the complete errosion of the ornate cast iron framework.

There was a very nice tea room there, but we were not at all hungry, so we had a drink on arriving, and another one just before we left. Lennie is pictured sitting on the wall of the tea room patio where we had our drink and looked through all the leaflets we picked up. We will be visiting a lot of these, although some of them are in North Yorkshire. All in all another lovely day, and I must say, that although this walk around the gardens was all uphill, I am beginning to feel better for all this excercise!!

We have not yet decided where we are going tomorrow, but go somewhere we will. This weather is set to continue, with the only hiccough on Friday when we may have a little light rain, but Saturday the sunshine will be back!