Wednesday 3rd May 2017

It was a cold start to the day today but the early morning mist soon burnt out once the sun got a little higher in the sky. I had a free day today so put the dogs in the car and headed off for a walk around the South Lake and Ray Woods at Castle Howard. It was about 11.00am as we parked in the car park. By now the sun was shining brightly but there was still a cool North Easterly wind, I was pleased to have packed my windproof fleece, needless to say there were several people walking around in just their shirt sleeves, they must have been cold or made of hardier stuff then me. 

We set off through the courtyard, stopping for a quick coffee before heading off through the ticket office and had a pleasant walk to the house. The last time we visited was only several weeks ago and all the daffodils and Snowdrops had long gone but being replaced by clusters of yellow Cowslips, they looked lovely gently blowing in the easterly wind.

It was good to be able to get some nice photographs of the house set against a lovely blue sky, quite often when I visit there is a dull grey sky. Today the house looked resplendent set against a blue back drop.. From the house we headed south to the Atlas Fountain and onto the South Lake, it was nice to be able to walk around the lake today, it had been cordoned off on my last two visits. The light this morning was amazing; the colours in the trees around the lake and the lake itself looked extremely colourful and vibrant. We continued walking along the lake, occasionally stopping to take photographs before heading on to the Temple of Four Winds and into Ray Woods. The trees in the woods always amaze me, such a variety, different shaped leaves, different coloured trunks, and different textured bark. The star of the show today had to be the Azaleas which were flowering nicely, lovely rich pink colours, some white and some purple, lots a colour around every corner; it was a delightful walk and felt like quite a tonic.  We had a sit on the bench at the top of the woods for ten minutes, just admiring the view,  before heading back to the house and courtyard for a late brunch.