Tuesday 11 October 2011

Day at Hestercombe

 Ok today's post is full of photos of my and Andy's walk from Taunton to Hestercombe in Somerset.  We did this mid September before we had the lovely heatwave.  As you can see the skies were grey and it was a bit nippy.   We had a nice snack of fresh blackberries on the way.


This was the view over the fields from Pitcher's Hill, Cheddon Fitzpaine.


We saw some nice wildflowers ... Common Toadflax


And some nice buildings

With beautiful Hollyhocks outside

As well as free apples for the taking





Check out the Hollyhock taller than Andy!


Sitting in Hestercombe's 'Stable' coffee shop.  It is converted stables and we are in one of the stalls


Beautiful Cyclamen in Hestercombe shop


The man is looking away as I enter my pin number


A beautiful Autumnal display, would love this in my garden


I love this cute building which is the 'Bat house' - there are bats inside but we didn't see any because the monitor showing them was broken


On our way through the grounds








This is usually a waterfall but I think someone had turned the tap off!!


Andy on the Chinese bridge





I loved this tree, maybe a few fairies living inside?






We bought some swan food but the swan didn't appreciate it



A nice feature.  There are loads of lovely features at Hestercombe


And some lovely grapes, a bit sour though

 Beautiful flowers



I love this daisy like flower which seemed to grow everywhere and here they are growing out of stone steps.

Snapdragons (easier for me to spell than the latin name)






I love these Michaelmass daisies with bees and butterflies.  Click on the picture for a beautiful enlarged version...


You can see the butterflies easier if you click on the picture




Hestercombe House




Guess who?

Love this interesting entrance




In the outdoor coffee shop, beautiful Cyclamen on the tables


Love the tree growing in the pot, shame the picture doesn't do it justice


An interesting hole in the wall, taken by Andy ... actually the next 7 pictures were taken by Andy






Me taking photos of the bees


The Orangery


A nice house on our journey back home


And an even nicer dog we stroked as we passed by.  Her name was Belle


I hope you enjoyed the pictures.  We had a lovely long day there.  I recommend it totally

3 comments:

Lynn said...

Oh how beautiful Liz, we don't have anything like that here, lucky you. I love the fairy tree and of course the pooch you met.We have wanted to grow Hollyhocks forever but without much success, I'll try again next year. What a perfect day - too bad the little furry brat can't come along!

xoxo Lynney

Anonymous said...

Hi Liz, these photos are gorgeous. Some are just bloomin amazing the way you have framed them - you have a great talent. Your blog is awesome. Thanks for sharing. Cheers Ady

Anner said...

Glad to see you blogging again, Hestercomb is so nice and a great place for photos, how long did it take you to get there? We drove! But then we had Nanny and Barbara.
Miss you xoxo