Trentham Gardens

Tuesday 27th May 2014putting on a load of

Blog post by the mother (still trying desperately to catch up!)

Another morning of homework today and then we drove to Trentham to catch up with the cousins. After some morning tea and putting on yet another load of washing (thank you Aunty L!) we walked to Trentham Gardens.  These are lovely gardens which have been restored and enhanced in recent years and are now open to the public.  Absolutely worth having a season pass to if you live in the area as the cousins do.

We managed not to be too distracted by the shopping village on our way in and headed towards the Italian gardens.  We had to stop at Aunty L's favourite arch which is where she considered having the wedding - so we had to take a loved up photo.

 

I was particularly taken with the potager gardens and the way that they were set out so attractively.  As a 'fence' some of the gardens are bordered by very low growing espaliered apple trees.  I wonder if we could do this at home or at school?

While I mooched around among the veges the kids headed off to the adventure playground and had fun being loud and active.

Of course after all that activity everyone needed to have a little sit down and (unlike Green Park in London) the deck chairs are provided for free!

Even though the adults were happy to settle into the deck chairs for the afternoon, the kids can only sit still for so long. The maze was our next stop - although there did appear to be some ducking through gaps in the hedge going on rather than sticking to the 'official' paths.  We all made it into the centre and then back out again. 

By this time we were all starting to feel a bit peck'ish so it was off to 'Pie Minister' for a lunch of pies and mash.  After lunch we walked along the lake down to the rowing club.  Unfortunately we didn't get to see any monkeys in the Monkey Forest but we did get to have a ride back to the gate on the train - "Choo Choo!".

Then it was back to the cousin's house to pick up the washing then Peacock Cottage for dinner and a repack of the bags before we head down to Windsor tomorrow.