Bells

As this is one of the prettiest times of the year to visit ‘my park’ I thought I would take you on a little walk. Everything is so green and as the theme of my post is ‘bells’, it is a good time to show you all the bluebells that are now in full bloom!

I really don’t think my photos do them justice as the sea of blue is just amazing!

The blue and green together is so beautiful.

Weddings ‘bells’ next and as it’s now less than seven weeks to my daughter’s wedding, the invitations have been sent out. They have been designed by my graphic designer son in the style of a vintage French postcard.

I’m afraid this is a very tenuous link to the ‘bells’ theme but as I promised I would share it, this is how the ‘Bell’s’ kitchen now looks after the revamp!

I don’t have a huge kitchen but much better use of the space has been made and as the decorator has now finished painting it is all now complete, thankfully!!

So it’s the weekend again, can you believe it!!

Thanks as always for visiting me here in my little space, I love it when you stop by and say hello and please know that your comments are much appreciated.

Wishing you all a happy, sunny, springtime weekend!

 

My Autumn Colours Park

It has a been while since we had a little walk in ‘my park’! I took my camera with me yesterday when I went on my Sunday afternoon walk so that I could share with you how beautiful it is at this time of year. We had yet another sunny day, I can’t believe how fortunate we have been with the weather this October.

You can compare the above photo with this one, just to see the change!

There was lots of autumn colour about and Sunday was a good day to visit as the park staff wouldn’t have been sweeping up the leaves over the weekend so there were plenty to kick about and walk through.

Always lots of wildlife no matter what time of the year it is!

It wasn’t all gold, russet and brown though, there was still lots of greenery and plenty of berries for the birds to feast on over the coming months.

I do love the colours of autumn, they are my favourite colours of all.

I don’t think I would ever tire of this place and I feel so lucky that it’s only a ten minute walk from my front door.

The sky was beautiful yesterday too, blue with white whispy clouds. Autumn has definitely won me over this year!!

I do hope you enjoyed your autumn walk in my park!

It was still dry and mild today although no sun to speak off, I managed a day in the garden (always good), apparently though it’s going to get quite cold by the end of the week.

Have a great week, whatever you get up to!

 

My New Life Park

I thought another visit to ‘my park’ was in order now that there are some new arrivals!

There are quite a few new swan families on the lake, all of course very beautiful.

The little ones are quite trusting but I wish they weren’t, not all humans are nice.

Mum and Dad however are not as trusting and when they think you’ve over stepped the mark, they let you know in no uncertain terms!

“This is my new baby and you’re close enough!!!”

“Come on little ones, those humans have taken enough photos!”

There are some new little goslings too! The geese are my favourite park birds, I love their attitude and their bright orange beaks and feet and they have the most adorable babies too!

There are some little ducklings as well but the only time I saw them was one evening when unfortunately I had no camera with me. They were so sweet, 11 of them following their Mum like little floating pom poms. Mummy duck must keep them well hidden as I have never seen them since.

Cute or what???

 

My Wildflower Park

It has been a lovely sunny Sunday and despite being a little chilly I thought it was time to take a walk in the park again especially as it’s bluebell time.

It’s not just bluebells though, the park is full of all sorts of wildflowers.

Of course at this time of year, the jewels in the park’s crown are the bluebells, it never ceases to amaze me how such a small flower can produce such a beautiful sea of blue!

So I hope you enjoyed you little walk with me around the park, taking in the wildflowers and fresh air.

Happy new week and thanks for visiting!

 

My Pre-Spring Park

This post is an antidote to all the other ‘white’ UK posts that are about today. Despite a dreadful weather forecast for the weekend, I’m happy to say we got rain and 8 degrees C. I can’t believe I was actually happy with rain but I was and in comparison to last weeks temperatures 8 deg C seemed almost warm!

Yesterday was so nice we managed to get a walk in the park and as our weather is still behaving itself I am still in pre-spring mode!

Lots of little clumps of snowdrops and crocuses bringing cheery colour can be found throughout the park.

Little catkins are appearing too.

The geese always welcome human visitors, on the off chance that there might be some bread.

I must admit that the geese are my favourite birds in the park, they have lots of attitude!

Of course there are lots of other wildfowl on the lake and they enjoy all the attention they get especially on a Sunday.

Although the trees appear to still be very bare on close inspection lots of little buds are forming.

So if you have been snowbound this weekend I hope you enjoyed your little walk with me in what seems to have been the part of the UK with the best weather (for a change)!

Today has been even nicer, with a lovely blue sky and a sun that actually has a bit of warmth to it!

R.J. has found himself a little spot at the corner of our garage in which to enjoy the sun.

Before I go I would like to thank Sally from Lavender Attic for very kindly awarding me the Versatile Blogger Award. I’m not going to do a list of things about myself as I have done this a couple of times before and I’m sure you know all about my likes and dislikes by now. I’m also not going to single out a group of bloggers to pass the award on to either as I love so many blogs and couldn’t narrow them down, so this is for all of you. Thanks again Sally for being so kind!

Wishing you all a lovely week with hopefully a bit of sunshine!

 

My Holly & Ivy Park

“The holly and the ivy,
When they are both full grown
Of all the trees that are in the wood
The holly bears the crown
O the rising of the sun
And the running of the deer
The playing of the merry organ
Sweet singing of the choir”

I thought we would take what will probably be the final blog walk in the park for this year and as you can see greenery may be a bit sparse but I did find some holly and ivy.

There really is quite a bit of ivy and as the trees are stripped bare it really stands out as it wraps itself around the tree trunks.

Not quite as much holly as ivy but I still managed to find a couple of bushes but with absolutely no berries at all. I’m not sure if there were any to start with or if the birds have eaten them all.

It really is quite mild outside today, the day started off bright and dry although it did turn to rain later this afternoon.

However when compared to the weather this time last year, it’s almost tropical!! You can see what the park looked like at just about this time in 2010, here!
Believe me I’m thankful it’s not like that this year!

It has been an enjoyable walk in the park today, it was lovely to get away from all the manic-ness that is this time of year.
Lovely to breath in the fresh air and enjoy nature.

Hope you too can find some time to step back from the madness as well and enjoy some of the simple things in life.

Thank you for walking in the park with me this year, I’m sure we’ll take we’ll take a few more strolls in 2012!

Happy Tuesday everyone.

 

My Autumn Park

I was checking back to see the last time I did a park post and it was the 26th June, I can’t believe it was that long since we had a walk in the park!
This was a post that I had intended to do last month but due to October’s horrible weather it wasn’t possible. Thankfully November has started beautifully and we enjoyed a lovely walk in the park yesterday and there still is some autumn colour about!

I love the light at this time of year when the weather is good that is. The sun is low in the sky and the shadows are long.

There are still plenty of crunchy leaves to walk through!

Even though I do feel a bit sad when the tree’s loose their leaves they do look majestic when you can see their bare branches.

There was a beautiful golden glow yesterday.

We had the sun and the moon in the sky at the same time yesterday afternoon.

It amazes me how some of the trees still have some of their leaves ………

others are just changing colour ……….

and some, like my own garden tree have lost all their leaves!

The wildlife were all out in force, these swans are always very grateful for the what the park visitors bring them.

Of course these cheeky chappies are never far away!!

Since the clocks went back the evening comes very quickly and that low sun soon slips below the horizon……..

creating some beautiful silhouettes as it goes.

I hope you enjoyed your little walk around ‘my autumn park’. We’re still enjoying some gorgeous late autumn weather here, fingers crossed it stays for a while.

Happy new week everyone!!!

 

My Summer Park

Time for another walk in ‘my park’. As today was as close as we have got to a summer’s day in a while, I thought today would be a good day to do it. There were still quite a few clouds about but they were raining on someone else and selfishly that was ok with me!! The air was so lovely and warm today and it was beautiful in the park!

The above photo is taken in an area that they let go wild. It just gets left alone and it’s wonderful what comes up, so very pretty.

The wildlife were enjoying the pleasant weather too. How cute is this little cygnet hitching a ride on it’s mother’s back!

The squirrels are very funny.

There are always blooms of some sort.

This was a first, American football, I have never seen this in the park before!

Through the trees the children were enjoying the play area in the good weather!

There you go folks, another walk in ‘my park’, hope you enjoyed it!

 

My Bluebell Park

I thought it was time to take another walk in ‘my park’ and no better time to do it than now, when the bluebells are in bloom. Of course you know by now that it’s not my personal park (I do have to share it with others) but I like to think of it as an extension of my garden as it’s only a 10 minute walk from my home and it’s a place we use often.

When it’s bluebell time the park is covered with them especially the woodland areas.

This year bluebell time is earlier than usual. It’s usually mid May before the park looks like this but the weather has been so good lately that the bluebells have decided to join us sooner than they normally do!

They really do put on a beautiful show!

I love how from distance it looks like a blue carpet.

Of course I couldn’t admire these pretty little flowers without having a go at making some of my own bluebells !!!

I do hope you all had a lovely Easter and a good start to the new week. We all have a wedding to look forward to this week, how exciting, I can’t wait!!!

 

My Spring Park

Hi everyone!
I thought now that the weather has really improved it was time for another walk in ‘my park’! The last time we visited it looked like this but thankfully we have moved on to better weather.

As you can see though the swans are still happy to see the human visitors!

I just love the light you get at his time of year when it’s a lovely clear day.

Catkins – a sure sign of spring!

I never tire of looking at the silhouette of ‘the castle’.

There are little clumps of crocuses everywhere. On the banks of the lake…..

…..and round the trunks of the trees.

Last week on one day we had 15 deg C, which for this time of year is lovely. Now the weather is still very beautiful but the temperatures have dropped a little so I may well still have need for this…..

…..my aran scarf, which was the project for my knitting workshop with Debbie Abrahams this past weekend. It is made in Rowan’s British Sheep Breeds Chunky undyed yarn and very lovely it is too. It’s very soft and not at all itchy and scratchy as you might expect from 100% pure wool. The purpose of the workshop was to knit completely from a chart with no written instructions at all, lots of concentration was needed.

It was a great day, knitting with 15 other like-minded people, not having to get up to answer a phone, make a meal, sort the washing and ironing or dust and hoover, just knitting and more knitting with a little bit of craft shopping thrown in!! Bliss!

I’ll leave you with two more little ‘pretties’ from the park!

I hope wherever you are, you too can enjoy a little sunshine today and in the coming week and as always, thanks for dropping in!