Lilly Gardens

We decided to be total tourists (and the limiting fact that I was restricted in my activities) by visiting some gardens. 


It also helped that we enjoy nature walks.

Strangely (not really) we were the only people there under 65.  Actually, we only saw 1 other couple and they were using zimmer frames!

The weather was predicted to be nicest on the Saturday so off we went.

Unbeknownst to us most of the lillies were not in bloom. 


This wasn't an issue as it was just pleasant walking around the three very large ponds.

Also the wild flowers around the ponds made quite picturesque scenes.


Mike and I made a little competition to see who could get the nicest photos.

As we wondered around we were followed by kitten which obviously lived at the gardens. 


The courious thing about the kitten was not that it attached itself to Mike but that it would wonder about 7 paces ahead and then stop.  It would wait for us to catch up (within a step or two) and then continue on.  Occassionally, it would turn around as if to say 'hurry up'.

Not to be outdone, the other wildlife also decided to put on a show.


Firstly, the humble bumble bees were absolutely covering a flowering tree.  It was just this tree. 


Oddly, it was quite difficult to capture them.  They are slow but their erratic flight path means you cant predict their movements.

Next was the 'wild' ducks.  They were very tame and again befriended Mike; to the point where they were following him.


Unfortuantly, we couldn't put them in our bags (for dinner).


There were some other oddities at this garden.

For example, there was a display of 'Pudding Stones'. 

A Pudding stone is a conglomerate rock made up of a mixture of different, irregular sized grains and pebbles held together by a finer matrix, usually formed from quartz sand.

The sedimentary rock is formed in river channels and may contain various minerals such as chromite, corundum, platinum, diamonds, gold, sapphire, and zircon. Its name is said to derive from a resemblance to Christmas pudding.

The thing was their rubbish bins. 

They were very cute and were dotted throughout the grounds.

Frighteningly, was the warning sign on the parking barriers.  Mike of course had to demonstrate what they were trying to prevent.

Abbotsford Gardens

We went to the Abbotsford Gardens and had a lovely walk around.

The gardens had various areas; one of which was a lovely lake.

We were walking along one of the paths when a pheasant decided to stroll across.  It wasn't afraid; in fact it was curiously inspecting us for potential food.

A large tree fell down so instead of just chpping it up t;hey decided to turn it into a feature.  On one side was this carving and on the other was a seat for 20 people.

Not content with taking pictures of me posing, Mike decided to get one of me struggling to get up from the seat.  It took me a good 5 mins to stand.

One of the ponds in the gardens had about 100 carp in it.  There was one white and one black fish amoungst all of the orange ones.

Just before the exit there was a small bird cage housing a fellow Australian. It was sad to see the bird in such a small cage.

Lulworth Castle

Now you cant be a tourist in England without visiting a castle.  It's just not right. 

With that in mind we decided to choose Lulworth Castle.

Like most castles it was partially restored.

We didn't realise until we arrived that the trust looking after the grounds and castle had put on an event.  The event was to try and get in the Guiness Book of Records for the most pirates in one place.

They'd asked people to gather at two specific times in the day out the front of the castle and wear a scarf, eye patch and a sword.  They would then photograph and record the numbers for their world record attempt.

To bring the atmosphere to life they also had re enactments in the front grounds (for the kids).

Inside the castle there were actors demonstrating castle life. 

Unfortuantly, the weather was awlful.  Yep, typically British long weekend - heavy rain with cold winds.

As you can guess they didn't break the record.

On a plus note for us, there weren't many people around so we could wonder in peace.

We went up to the roof and braved the elements to get a view of the countryside.  And also, the encampment below.


We didn't bargin on the fearce winds and the accompaning rain.

As you can see, it was hard to look glamourous in those conditions. 

My coat hood is taking off! 

Oh, and I'm not protecting a camera under my coat.  By the way - I can barely zip it up!

To add to our foolishness we decided to visit the outdoor petting zoo which was at the far end of the grounds.


At the entrance was a mushroom hut.  This was obviously designed for children.  But it didn't stop us from trying it out!

It's claim to fame was the large number of peacocks/hens that they'd bred for which the owners (at one point) decided was a testimony to their wealth.

At this time of year there were several offspring but the funniest part was the 'Bunny Barn'.

I kid you not!

This thatched building not only contained a variety of bunnies but also budgies and hamsters.

Isle of Portland

 

This is actually a sand bank (made of pebbles and rocks, not sand) that stretches along the coast.

Despite Mike's attempt to get some rays, it really wasn't very comfortable.


 
 
 
 

 

 

We were impressed with this sign.

Portland Castle

Given our early breakfast we decided to head off to our first destination and expected it to be open at no later than 9.30am.  This apparently is not the case in Dorset (where we were to find most attractions open at 10.30am with some defying the trend with a 10.00 am start).

It was raining so we decided to pick Portland Castle as it was indoors and really close.  Also we hoped that the rain would ease a little (it was predicted for all day by the forecasters) before we went to some outside destinations.

We ran from the car park to the castle wall gate.  Once there we went inside.

Not 5 seconds after we close the door (and 1 step inside) we were greeted by the lady behind the ticket desk with "Where not open yet!"

Now this was not said nicely but more of a complete disdainful 'bloody tourists' voice. 

My answer was "I know, we're just stepping out of the pouring rain".

Her facial look matched the voice; until she noticed my wide load. But she continued to ignore us.

A minute later a couple of gents came in.  The happy lady resumed her previous demenour was ready to let rip when one of the guys beat her to the punch line with "We're here for the wedding."

This apparently either melted her icy exterior or shocked her enough for her to rise to the level of sub human pleasantries. 

Left to our own devices we discovered we had more than 1 hour to wait for this castle to open.  We decided to give this place a miss and head to Lulworth Castle.  However, we decided to brave the rain to walk the outer grounds (we didn't need to wait to see these) in the hope of seeing the harbour views of Weymouth.

Weymouth

We headed off a bit late on the Friday of the end of May Bank Holiday weekend not due to sleeping in but rather due to technical difficulties with the home internet.  That's right it crashed overnight and Mike had to fix it before we left.  On the plus side I was able to some domestic chores like washing, vacuuming, etc. so that when we got back I didn't have any horrible chores to do.

We eventually left at 1pm and only stopped once for lunch.  However, despite leaving a full day before the 'crowds' we did encounter significant traffic around the New Forest area which delayed our arrival at Weymouth by about 2 hours (arrived at 6pm). 

Mike had booked the last room in one of the only B and B's with a vacancy so I wasn't expecting the Ritz.  To be truthfull we'd only decided on our destination 2 weeks ago so we were very lucky we got anything.

I did expect a shower/toilet in the room; this was not the case as it was up the steep steps on the first floor.  The room was on the bottom floor between the kitchen and the dinning room.  This wouldn't be an issue until breakfast; kitchen noise started at 7am so there wasn't any chance of sleeping in.  The plus side was that as the breakfast was allocated at 15min intervals as the dinning area was tiny; ours was first (at 8am).

I think the owner had a mini heart attack when he saw me (and the bump).  He unfortuantley couldn't swap rooms for us as we were the last to arrive.  His nervous disposition created an mild panic for him when his mind wondered towards a potential lawsuit (or early arrival of junior) if I fell down the stairs in the middle of the night.

Once we checked in we decided to check out the town.  This really didn't take long and definitely enphasised that this was a faded 1960's seaside town which now relies on the youth spending their money at the numerous pubs.

The beach was pebbly so deck chairs were a must.  There was lots of kids activities from mini golf to paddle boats so it did cater for a wide range of ages.  Though these were all closed due to the late hour.

This bank weekend is the start of the end of term so there were gaggles of teens on the beach.  Some were chilling out whilst others had some booze.  A few had managed to get a couple of the deck chairs from the lock up (so that they didn't have to sit on the stoney beach) and were gossiping comfortably.

Wondering Wimbledon Common

We went a wondering on the common of Wimbledon all the way to Wimbledon town where we had a late lunch/early dinner at the Dog and Fox pub.  We also had an ice cream as, it was very warm (26C - the hottest day we've had), we made our way to the train station.

Walking through the common we found a long abandoned obelisk with a brick shaft, stone top and stone pedestal, the latter bearing inscriptions on all four faces. The inscription is barely readable but says ‘Commemorates the experimental ‘fire-proof house’ erected here in 1776 by David Hartley, which had iron and copper plates between the doors’.
     
       

From this marker we wondered deeper into the common grounds.  Being used to the Australian bush we unconsciously stomped  through the long grass (to scare the snakes which might be sun baking in the long grass) and avoided walking under hanging branches (to avoid getting entangled in spider webs).

   
Despite this we encounted several unexpected hazards.  The first was zooming cyclists as this is a place where people are allowed to cycle; though on specified tracks only (this is not what actually happens).  There are also horse riding tracks as there is a stable in Wimbledon (just behind the Dog and Fox pub).

The other was caterpillars.  Yep - those tiny 1/2 cm to 2 cm creatures were hanging at shoulder level by a very tiny thread attached several meters up to a large tree.  The minimal breeze meant that these creatures swung back and forth make it easy for us to accidently walk into them yet extremely difficult to get a photo of.

At first we thought we'd walked into spider webs and were concerned about having un invited spiders crawling on us.  We were relieved to note this was not the case and these were just cateperllars.  Thank goodness they weren't spitfire cateperllars or our relief would've been very short lived.

The other landmark which we saw was the windmill.  I originally thought that these were only used in Holland however; I was wrong.  English farmers also used them and this one has now been converted into a museum.

Throughout our wondering I kept my eyes open in the hope I'd see a Womble.  This was not the case and I was a bit disappointed.

The Wombles are fictional pointy-nosed, furry creatures that live in burrows, where they help the environment by collecting and recycling rubbish in useful and ingenious ways. Wombles were created by author Elisabeth Beresford, originally appearing in a series of children's novels from 1968. Their motto is "Make Good Use of Bad Rubbish."