Autumnal Belton

Earlier this week we took heed of the weather forecast which was casting doom and gloom about the temperatures for the next few days and took advantage of the beautiful sunshine to visit our local National Trust property Belton House.  We thought the children would have been back at school after half-term but evidently they had an inset day so it was pretty busy but the beauty of Belton is that it's large enough for everyone.

The colours in the gardens were wonderful so I'll let the photos do the talking.

 The lake with a party of swans looked wonderful and was very peaceful without its usual company of geese.  Presumably they are still on their way.

 The walls of the Orangery were covered in ladybirds, or more accurately ladybeetles that originated in Asia.  Apparently these bugs are becoming a nuisance in America so it seems it might be our turn now.

 One of the offending lady beetles.

 These are the fruits on a Spindle Tree.  I thought they looked a bit like butterflies.  You would think that they were flowers but, no, they are the fruits.

 This fungus was on a trees tump down by the lake.  The fungus ran in a line along the track of the roots too.

Autumnal Easton

The sunshine this morning drew us out to a local garden for some autumn colour and lunch out.  Easton Walled Garden is just off the A1 about 8 miles south of Grantham and has been a work in progress  2001 and every visit brings something new.

Today the gardens were very quiet and the staff outnumbered the visitors which made it all the more pleasant to wander around with unhindered views.

 This lovely Virginia Creeper greeted us as we entered the gardens.

 I didn't know they flowered but I suppose logically they must!

We had lunch outside as it was quite warm and the light was catching trees in the distance.

 By the time we'd eaten the clouds had built up and veiled the sun.

 This border still looks very elegant as it slips delicately into Autumn.

 This espalier (pear?) had a magical quality to it.

 Looking back to where we had lunch.

 I'm sure the children will enjoy this display when the gardens open again on Sunday.  They'll also enjoy gathering lots of conkers in the carpark, they were falling everywhere.

 Not sure who this guy was, paparazzi no doubt 😜

 Beautiful mosses atop a low wall.

Just to taunt us the sun popped out again just as we made our way out.  Starting on 19th and running till the end of the month there's going to be a pumpkin rolling event to coincide with half-term.  I'm hoping we'll find time to pop out there again as it's bound to be a good photo opportunity.  I think they have 200 pumpkins for the children to roll.

Autumn

I thought you might like to see a few of the photos I took today on a very cold but enjoyable walk round the parkland at Belton House.   I think it must be the amount of rain we had earlier in the year that is giving us such a glorious Autumn this year.  With the sun shining beautifully today the colours were stunning!

It's coming to something when you have to apologise for nature!

Experimenting with angles.

Not a clue what these pretty toadstools are but I don't think I'd eat them.

You'd think from that rucksack he was stalking someone but, no, it's just a photo opportunity.

I'm not sure whether this is a handkerchief or a tulip tree but it looked stunning today.

Thanks to some advice from Mark Highton-Ridley I have been experimenting with taking photos on 'Aperture Priority' and I'm liking the results.  Thank you Mark!

A Bientot

I thought I would post a little bit of Autumn colour (albeit Austrian and French Autumn colour) as I won't be around this week and I thought you might like something colourful to look at. See you soon!

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