Off Out Again - Kedleston

 

At last lockdown has been lifted! I've been saying for a while that I wanted to get out and look at a bit of garden that wasn't my own, to see some daffodils that I hadn't had to plant myself, so I did - at Kedleston Hall.

It isn't far away - maybe twenty minutes - but there's been a level of confusion over how far it's been permissible to travel during this last lockdown so I haven't visited.

Maybe it was good to have waited as the weather was glorious - pleasant enough to walk in short sleeves but not too hot.

First stop was the garden to see the marvelous crescent of daffodils arcing through the otherwise empty flowerbeds, then we headed up the Short Walk with masses of flowers lining the path

Daffodils weren't the only flowers to be seen - an early rhododendron was tucked away in a quiet spot of the pleasure grounds, and cherry blossom brightened up the Short Walk.

Further up the Walk, primroses and celandines carpeted the ground, with an occasional patch of wood anemones, and a tiny patch of blue marking where bluebells will soon be showing.

I hadn't quite expected to walk the whole route. In previous years I've been dreadfully unfit at the beginning of spring and only managed the first uphill section. With this year's lockdown I assumed I'd be more out of condition, so I was delighted to find I had the energy to finish the circuit. 

I was almost tempted to try the Long Walk with its extension right round the Pleasure Grounds but decided against mainly because of the time of day. Sometime this year, though, I hope to achieve my goal of walking both the Long Walk and the Wilderness Walk in one day - combined they're six miles or so; not far but further than I've walked in a while.

For this day though, I turned downhill at the more or less halfway mark, through the park with ewes and lambs grazing, and back for a few more minutes sitting quietly in the sunshine by the daffodils.