I do not know where the time goes, it is a month since we took Meg and Gracie for a walk around the South Lake at Castle Howard, so we were well overdue another visit. 

Looking at the weekly weather forecast over the weekend Wednesday looked like being a nice day. So without further ado we packed the car (with the dogs and camera gear) and headed over to Castle Howard, it was a good run through with no major hold up or delays on the road network, it was about 10.15am as I we walked through the courtyard. I sat with Meg & Gracie for five minutes on one of the benches whilst Jen popped in for a take away coffee, Meg & Gracie were on good form and sat patiently at my feet whilst lots of eastern European visitors took their photographs, they like the attention.

 It was a beautiful morning, a lovely blue sky with the odd white whispy cloud. The car temperature gauge showed 8C when we arrived although the light wind made it feel much colder.

The autumnal colour of the trees looked breath-taking as we walked towards the house along the western terrace, the golden colours glistening beautifully in the morning sunlight. From the house we made our way along the south drive towards the Time Capsule before turning off to walk along the Temple Terrace to the Temple of the Four Winds. The trees along the southern edge of Ray wood looked very autumnal. Over to the right on the South lake were several hundred Canada Geese all enjoying the sunshine, every now and then one would upset the other and there would be such a cacophony of noise that half the flock took to the wing circling the lake before coming in to land again.  

We had a brief rest at the Temple, the views looking across the Howardian hills are wonderful, the mixture of woodland and flat arable land with fields of Angus cattle grazing makes a lovely sight and to the right are great views of the New River Bridge. After a few minutes we headed back towards the house but followed the track down to the Temple Hole lake, past the Shepherd boy statue, up the incline to the South Lake and followed the track around the Southern edge of the lake. The views of the house from here are amasing, fortunately there are lots of benches to sit down on and admire the view. The Trees on the opposite side of the lake in Ray Wood were looking extremely colourful, the midday sun highlighting the autumnal golden red colours. From the south lake we continued past the lake to the southern edge of the lawned garden and Atlas Fountain. The hedging around the lawns looked freshly trimmed and looked and pristine. The reflections of the fountain and house in the Atlas fountain looked quite surreal. We continued our walk from the fountain to the main house. From the house we headed part way down through the Lime trees and into the Walled Garden. All the beautiful summer flowers had finished and been removed by the gardeners, with work ongoing preparing the borders and flower beds for winter.

From the garden we headed back to the Stable Courtyard, picked up some sandwiches and a cup of tea from the courtyard café  and headed back to the car for a picnic. I had brought some doggie bits and pieces from home so that Meg & Gracie could have a picnic with us too.