Wednesday 21st February 2018

It has been a really wet and rainy couple of days so far this week. Our front lawn is absolutely saturated at the moment and there just seems no let-up in the rain, which I find quite depressing, I much prefer a nice sunny day, but as we are still in the winter months I shouldn’t complain.

After the morning dog walk and breakfast I packed the car and we all headed over to have a walk around the ‘Snowdrop trail’ at Burton Agnes Hall in East Yorkshire. It was five years ago since we last visited so I was looking forward to a walk around the grounds with Meg and Gracie. The Hall is about one hour’s drive from home so not too far really and there is a café after the walk which makes it even more pleasant. 

It was a wet drive over from home with several heavy rain showers on route but as I drove in to the ‘new car park’ the rain clouds lifted. After a look at the plants in the courtyard and visitors centre we headed over to the hall. The main house was looking good in the morning sunlight, the gardeners and volunteers were busy pruning and tidying up the borders. 

We followed the ‘Snowdrop Trail’ around the front of the house and into the woods, passing several beautifully carved wooden animal sculptures of squirrels, owls and badgers. The woodland floor is covered in a mass of snowdrops the tiny white bell like flowers fluttering gently in the light breeze. According to ancient folklore the Snowdrop is a symbol of hope when a Snowdrop appeared after an Angel turned the snowflakes into Snowdrop flowers to prove to Adam and Eve that the cold winters do eventually come to an end and Spring is just around the corner. We followed the trail for around twenty minutes or so, stopping to take a break and admire the views. On the way back to the house we had a look around the other parts of the garden around the pond and Summer House before returning to the Courtyard. I had just managed to put the dogs back into the car when the heavens opened and it pelted down with rain, oh how pleased I was, firstly that I had two dry dogs in the back of the car and secondly I knew that Jenny was in the dry of the coffee shop, had all three been in the woods when it started to rain it would have been a different story. As it turned out though we had a very pleasant morning’s stroll amongst the Snowdrops and a very enjoyable brunch in a bustling little café before our journey home.