The warm, dry and sunny weather this past week has been lovely for Spring and today was no different, waking up to bright sunshine although a tad chilly first thing with a light, cool northerly breeze. It was an early start today as I wanted to visit Burnby Hall Gardens in Pocklington, for the annual Tulip Festival which runs from 18^th April – 9^th May.

We arrived a few minutes after 10.00am and from the car it is just a short walk to the entrance and visitor’s centre. The festival is always a very popular event and it is easy to see why because as soon as you pass through the ticket office and into the garden the vibrant palette of colour hits you in the face. Several thousands of tulips have been formally arranged in huge pots and tubs around the garden and across the entire site. The gardens are always beautiful but today they certainly had created a striking Spring Tulip Festival, and credit should be given to Jill Ward the head gardener, and her team, for the months of preparation and planning work involved in getting all the pots and displays in place around the site.

This was our first visit to the Tulip Festival and I did not really know what to expect, but today it really took our breathe away. Leaving the visitors centre we followed the path to the right to walk around the Upper Lake in an anti-clockwise direction. Looking to our left very large ceramic pots full of Tulips in a myriad of bright and vibrant colours lined the metaled road leading to the Lilypad café. We continued our walk around the upper lake, Burnby Hall Gardens are renowned for their Water lilies but at this time of year and with the water still being quite cold the lilies are only just starting to come in to leaf, it won’t be until mid-June before they come in to flower. Walking anywhere close to the water’s edge always attracts the fish’s attention as they come and greet you with their mouths wide open, churning the water up in such an excited frenzy, many breeching as they hope for any tiny morsel of food, it really is quite a remarkable sight. Continuing our walk towards the Dovecote we passed a flower bed of mixed coloured tulips, red, white, dark purple and pink bordering the lake. We spent a couple of minutes watching the beautiful White Doves in their dovecote, all their nest holes were occupied and each nest being strictly guarded by the parents. More tulips lined the path, loverly shades of lilac, purple, reds and some lovely fringed yellow ones swaying gently in the light morning breeze.  We continued our walk to the metal bridge, stopping to admire some orange/red coloured lily type tulips, a little further along was a border full of beautiful lilac-coloured fringed tulips.  Continuing our walk, we headed up the slope through the wooden gate and into the Stumpery, a huge bed of bluebells filled the woodland floor mixed with flowering Wild Garlic, flowering cowslips and hundreds of ferns growing in and around the huge Oak tree stumps. Leaving the stumpery, we continued our walk around the lake and into the Edwardian Rock Garden. Lots of Alpines were in full flower including the Aubrietas and Primula Denticulata. The rockery is certainly coming to life since it was completely restored several years ago, with so much to see around every turn of the path a different view appears and the stream cascades through the middle of it. Leaving the rockery behind us we headed into the Walled garden, two Cherry blossom trees on our right were in full flower and made quite an eye-catching feature set on the beautifully manicured lawns. Pockets of colourful Tulips added additional colour to the beautiful tendered borders. Leaving this part of the garden we continued our walk around the lake and headed over to the Aviary Garden, the huge circular beds were awash with Tulips, pinks, lilac, purple, white and yellow flowers filled the beds. In the Summerhouse next to the Aviaries, various varieties and colours of Tulips were on display and looked really effective set in their glass bulbous vases. We headed back to the water’s edge for a few minutes to watch the fish, mainly Carp, Roach and Rudd as they continued their search for food, they seem to have a never-ending appetite for food (similarly to our two labradors Meg & Gracie!)

From here it is just a short walk to the Lilypad café where we enjoyed a very pleasant brunch, sat outside in the spring sunshine before the journey home.