Stomping Ground

Back in the shire for the bank holiday, and ended up having a bit of an adventure on Monday. I thought I would go for a little walk and find the sea using only my own two feet, and slightly underestimated the distance (15 miles!). Legs are a little achey today but it was worth it. Here then is the story in photos - to the sea and back again through the wilds of the Dorset countryside.

To the sea!

The hobbit way...

A whole field of redheads :)

Hmmm, seems like 5 million people also decided to go see the sea...

...10 minutes further down the coast, my own private beach!

Time to head back... What goes down must come up...

Aerial Supermodels

Pretty pretty! Although there were of course some big and exciting animals at Longleat, some of the most spectacular were also some of the smallest. Here are the supermodels of the insect world :) Happy Saturday everyone!

And a pretty flower...

Hello There...

As promised, some actual animals from Longleat, no more boring furniture pictures. I really enjoyed the safari park, plenty of the animals were out and about close to the cars, apart from the big cats, playing sleeping lions of course! Feeding the deer was fun, they certainly know the score. Of course the monkeys were very entertaining, they seem to have a thing about Renault Scenics, they made a beeline for the one in from to us and did a good job of removing all the trim!

Happy Sunday :)

Always Look Up

Having spent the last few years driving straight past Longleat on my way between home and uni, it was a bit tragic that I had never actually paid a visit. That was finally rectified last week, when I had a brilliant day out with my Aunt (skiving off work, me?!). It was pretty busy as of course we are in the thick of the school holidays, but the park is well designed to space people out. The beautiful house was also a good place to escape from the hoards-only a few ambitious parents were dragging their offspring around. The house is stunning, and there are many rooms open to the public. The collections of furniture and art are particularly impressive, and of course the ceilings! I love the effort that went in to ceilings in stately homes, surely having a decadent ceiling is the epitome of opulence.

Can I have a library like this please?! There seemed to be a particular oriental influence to a lot of the furniture choices. There were many beautiful cabinets with ornate paintwork and inlays, and one of the bedrooms had what looked to be hand painted oriental floral wallpaper.

The ceilings!

Animals to follow :)

Shut Up and Ride

The power of a quick spin through the countryside never fails to impress me. I step out of the door in an advanced state of grumpiness, full of annoyance at all people. 15 minutes down the track in the evening light and I am smiling and saying 'hello' to everyone I pass, full of the joys of life. That fresh air is heady stuff indeed.