The weather of late has been exceptional for this time of year, the overnight frosts have soon disappeared leaving a dry bright and sunny morning with the temperature rising to the mid-teens by early afternoon. So today we decided to head over to Castle Howard to catch sight of the Daffodils before they disappeared and see if the Magnolia’s and Rhododendrons had come into flower.

It was a pleasant 50-minute drive from home, the weather earlier in the morning had been dry bright and sunny, with a little mist, unfortunately as we headed closer to the Howardian Hills the temperature dropped and the sunshine we enjoyed earlier in the morning soon disappeared behind the grey clouds which greeted us as we arrived at the car park. Unperturbed, we got Meg and Gracie out of the car and headed over to the Courtyard café for a  takeaway coffee and biscuit. The sun shone momentarily as we crossed the courtyard to the booking office, and after exchanging pleasantries with the reception staff we made our way outside. Unfortunately, within two to three minutes the early morning sun disappeared behind the grey clouds never to be seen again! (Till tomorrow that is) The daffodils lining the treelined terrace leading to the west wing of the house looked beautiful as they gently swayed in the cooling westerly breeze. We headed into the Walled Garden for a few moments and although everything looked well-tended there was not a great deal of colour, so we left the garden and headed towards the house. Although the house is still closed to the public considerable work has been carried out inside in preparation for its re opening later this month, including a good spring clean and the restoration of some of the rooms which had been damaged in the fire during the 1940’s. We continued our walk along the South side of the house, passing a huge ‘Cherry Picker’ which was being prepared to enable some workmen to carry out necessary repairs to the outside of this fine house. Passing over the ‘Time Capsule’ we continued up the daffodil lined slope to the entrance of ‘Ray Woods’, were we sat on the wooden bench to get our breath and admire the view looking over the ‘South Lake’ to our left and the house of course in front of us. There was a chilly westerly breeze blowing in our face, so after a few minutes we continued into the woods, all the Snowdrops that covered this area earlier in the year had all but disappeared and replaced with emerging Wild Garlic, Garlic Mustard, and Primulas. Meg had her usual roll in all the dead leaves which had been blown into the wire fence, her sister Gracie fortunately is not a roller but can be equally as mischievous, from the wooden gate it is just a few minutes’ walk before we came out of the woods at ‘The Temple of Four Winds.’ This morning the temple lived up to its name with a bitterly cold westerly wind which appeared to circle around the temple. The views as ever and even on a grey and gloomy day were breathtaking, be it looking over the pasture land to our left or looking over towards ‘the New Bridge and Mausoleum’ on our right, there is always something to catch your eye, this morning a Buzzard was circling high above a small tree plantation noisily calling to its mate sat in its nest probably rearing some little chicks. It was a cold and draughty place so we made our way back along the ‘Southern Terrace’ to the main house. The Daffodils on the side of the terrace looked beautiful as they swayed about in the fresh morning breeze. There was a fair bit of activity on the ‘South Lake’ with a pair of Canadian Geese behaving like rowdy teenagers and the Tufted Ducks busily trying to get out of their way. One of the Swans looked to be busily nest building amongst the reed beds. With no sign of the sun breaking through the grey and overcast sky we continued past the house to the Courtyard where we enjoyed a very pleasant pot of tea and brunch in the comfort and warmth of the ‘Courtyard Restaurant’, Meg and Gracie quite content laid at the side of our table having just demolished a ‘doggie breakfast’ between them!