A little further afield - Belton House

Our day-out this week took us a little further - all the way to Belton House in Lincolnshire.

It's not really a much longer journey than to Chatsworth, but somehow, travelling along fast dual carriageways and round Nottingham instead of along B-roads through Derbyshire, it seems a considerably greater distance. As a result we tend to mainly call in on our way to Norfolk, rather than visit for a day. 

 The National Trust are still operating on reduced visitor numbers and pre-booked tickets are going quite quickly, so by the day we decided to book only fairly late afternoon slots were available. 

Late afternoon has a great advantage though - a lot of visitors have started to think about going home.  I'd imagine that earlier it may have been quite busy but we had the grounds almost to ourselves. At some time, long long ago, I visited with my parents attending a caravan rally in the grounds, and walked round the gardens early in the morning when no one else was around; this visit had almost the same feeling, as if the gardens belonged to me alone.

A sign acknowledged the fact that the gardens were not at their best. The number of professional gardeners working there, and volunteers assisting, has been drastically cut during lockdown, so bedding displays are not as full as at other times but the topiary still provides a pleasing structure.

From the formal gardens we wandered down to the restored boathouse and round the lake, stopping frequently to enjoy the sun, and watch dragonflies skimming above the water.

By the time we headed back to the house it was very nearly time to leave.

There was just one more thing to distract us - as cars left, deer were moving in on the visitor areas. 

I cautiously tried getting a little closer, but these guys decided to come our way  - either for food, or to encourage us to leave. They stopped a good socially distanced 3 metres or more away, but we decided to take a hint and go.