What turned out to be a dull and cloudy start to the day manifested itself into a very pleasant, bright and sunny morning.

After breakfast we packed the car and headed over to Castle Howard for another walk around the gardens with Meg and Gracie, it was three weeks since our last visit.

It was just after 10.30am as we left the Courtyard café. The weather looked somewhat grey and cloudy, but in the distance you could see the sun was trying to break through the leaden sky. It was pleasantly warm at about 16C the slight breeze keeping the temperature quite pleasant. After fifteen minutes or so the sun was shining, and it turned into a very pleasant morning. After leaving the ticket office we headed over to the Walled Garden for a look at the beautiful borders and vegetable/kitchen garden. I find it quite tranquil and peaceful inside the walled gardens. The lawns are neatly cut and tidy, the borders for mid-summer, look beautiful and full of colour.  The clusters of Alliums amongst the borders, although they have lost their colour still looked amazing and would make some great dry flower arrangements, some of the flower heads the size of a small football. After leaving the Walled gardens we followed the path around the South Lake and had a pleasant walk along the water’s edge. There was plenty of activities on the water with lots of Tufted ducks and plenty of geese flitting around the water.

I was pleasantly surprised as to how quiet it was on the estate this morning with not as many visitors as usual. After the stroll around the lake we headed back to the courtyard and enjoyed a very pleasant brunch in the Courtyard restaurant.