After a week of dull, gloomy, and unsettled weather the forecast for today looked quite bright, dry, and sunny. I had a free day so we packed the car and headed along the A64 to Castle Howard for a walk around the estate with Meg and Gracie and to see the autumn colours. I cannot believe it was virtually two months since our last visit so todays visit was long overdue. It is just a 50-minute drive from home and today journey was quite uneventful with light traffic on the roads. It was 10.15am as I got the dogs out of the car and headed into the Courtyard café for a takeaway coffee. The sun was shining and the sky was a beautiful deep blue with no clouds.  As we made our way across the cobbled stone courtyard, there was a fine display of Pumpkins on a portable stall in the corner, several visitors were sat outside the Courtyard Café enjoying their refreshment in the autumnal sunshine. After passing through the ticket office, we headed back outside and along the Southern Terrace. The Northern Terrace was temporarily cordoned off whilst several forestry contractors were busily removing some fallen debris from one of the old oak trees which had succumbed to the strong winds over the past few days.

Continuing our walk along the driveway, we headed through the opened wooden gate and into the Walled Garden, as always, the grass terraces were looking nicely manicured and tidy, despite being late autumn there was still plenty of colour amongst the flowers in the borders. The vegetable plot/Kitchen Garden was full of seasonal vegetables and the formal gardens were bright and colourful too. It was nice to chat and exchange pleasantries with several of the volunteer gardeners who were busily tidying up and weeding some of the borders. The gardens will be closing shortly (12^th November) for winter maintenance. Leaving the garden through the wrought iron east gate we turned left and followed the gravelled road towards the main house, the sun was shining brightly through the trees along the lime tree terrace, casting shimmering shadows across the ground. As we reached the Southern aspects of the house we stopped for a few moments to admire the view of the house basking in the late autumn sunlight, the Golden dome towering above the roof line was glistening brightly in the warm sunshine. It was nice to see lots of other visitors out for a walk too, some over by the Atlas fountain, others walking around the South Lake and others heading over to the Temple of Four Winds. We continued our walk along the gravelled south terrace, passing the house on the left, the sunlight was highlighting much of the intricate carvings on the stonework on the south face of the house, there must be a story to tell there and something for me to research in the near future. Leaving the house behind, we skirted around the Time Capsule and made our way up the grassy terrace to the bench at the top of the hill where we sat and enjoyed the pleasant views looking back towards the house and Atlas fountain. Passing through the wooden gate we continued into the woodland, the autumn colours were vibrant and rich in colour, amplified by the morning sun shining through the trees. Birdsong was vibrant in the woods with Robin, Wren, Chaffinch, and Great Tits enjoying the warm autumn sunshine and singing their heads off as we walked past them. There was plenty of fungi about on the woodland floor, clusters of Sulphur Tuft, Honey Mushroom and Brown Roll Rim were everywhere amongst the leaf litter and on the bottom of rotting tree trunks. We had a lovely walk through the woods, Meg was in her element rolling amongst all the fallen autumn leaves. After passing through another wooden five bar gate, we continued through the woods till we reached the Temple of Four Winds. I always like to walk around the outside of the temple just to admire the views of the rolling countryside, and to see if we could see and hear the Buzzard which usually lives amongst the trees close to the Mausoleum. After having a photo stop with Meg and Gracie at the Temple we headed down the slope to the Temple Hole to have a look at the Shepherd Boy before climbing back up the muddy slope to the South Lake. This end of the lake is one of my favourite views, no matter what time of year, looking over the lake towards the house is always quite special. Today a small flock of Swans caught me by surprise as they flew over our head and landed at the far end of the lake with much splashing and commotion, to join a bigger flock of Greylag Geese and some Tufted Ducks. Once my heart rate settled down, we continued our walk along the water’s edge stopping every now and then to watch the swans’ feed and graze under the surface of the water. The trees on the far side of the lake and along the Temple Terrace heading into the woods were taking on a beautiful Autumnal palette with a mixture of colours ranging from golden brown, and rusty red to shades of light green. As we rounded the end of the lake we made our way up the gentle slope towards the house. From here it is just a pleasant five-minute walk passing the Walled Garden on our left to the Courtyard Cafe, where we all enjoyed a very pleasant brunch sat outside in the warm afternoon sunshine, Meg and Gracie enjoyed their warm sausage and biscuit doggie breakfast too! I drove home with two contented sleeping dogs in the car.