Off to Norfolk - stopover at Belton House

Our first stop when heading to Norfolk is always at Belton House, just outside Grantham.

It's not far from home and we arrived with time for lunch before taking a walk around the gardens.

It was another warm day for early May and the walking mainly took the form of  moving from one area of shade to the next.

For a while we sat in the shade of the medlar trees at the rear of the Orangery; this is the first time I've seen them in flower.

Then moved onward to this summerhouse hidden away in cow parsley, and a path in dappled shade beneath trees.

Before braving the sun to reach the pavilion at the end of the pond.

I don't like heat and found it far too hot to explore up to the Boathouse and around the lake, so we ambled under trees back towards the formal gardens and the Moondial before heading back to the cafe for tea and cake.

One last thing to see ... 

On the way in, I'd noticed this wonderful wisteria growing by the entrance sign, so before leaving we walked down the drive to see it. Isn't it absolutely gorgeous? 

 

Kedleston

Continuing the search for bluebells took us in early May to Kedleston Hall. Here they're found along the Short Walk, but, although I'd considered going to find them there, we got distracted by the Pleasure Grounds.

Here the rhododendrons were in full flower and looking lovely.

And I even spotted some wisteria in flower. It wasn't as magical as that at Calke but it's still lovely to see.

We did eventually head up the Short Walk but not as far as the bluebells. The wild garlic was looking and smelling wonderful though.

 A complete carpet of white!

April

 I'm extraordinarily late with my posts at the moment - possibly because life seems so busy - but I've at last reached the end of April!

The month started, as always, with my birthday; this year shared with a late Mother's Day celebration.

I didn't actually do anything on my birthday but at the weekend all of the family got together for a tapas meal at Lorentes at Darley Mills, followed by cake at home.

A couple of weeks later we were off on our second adventure of the year - to Carlisle with our younger daughter, stopping off at Sizergh Castle and Lyme Park 

At home Spring was advancing quickly with sunny, dry weather bringing bulbs into flower and fruit trees into blossom

and spotting bluebells appearing in the local wood encouraged me to get out to Calke Abbey to see the bluebells there

Bluebells, wisteria, and apple blossom at Calke

The end of April continued warm and sunny, and bluebells were already flowering, so off to Calke we went to explore.

The Serpentine Wood is the place to find Calke's bluebells, and is best, in my opinion, approached from the 'Calke Explore' playground area as the flowers face that direction and appear bluer. So we stopped at the car park there, and headed straight for the higher part of the wood where the bluebells grow. It possible to walk from the main car park at Calke but we thought our route might be shorter - I'm not actually sure that it was.

A walk in woodland is lovely at any time of year but it's particularly beautiful when the ground is carpeted with bluebells.

The second part of our day was spent in the walled garden where the wisteria was flowering and the orchard in blossom.

We were a little early for the full display of wisteria but the sun-facing walls were covered with purple racemes. I don't think there's anything quite as lovely as wisteria cascading down a wall.

Through the doorway the lavender-edged path leads through the kitchen garden to the orchard - a gorgeous place to sit in the sunshine, especially at this time of year with the trees in blossom.