Out For A Walk

It was windy on Sunday but nowhere near as windy as it had been on Saturday so we got wrapped up and took Archie for a good walk at Lotherton. The sun kept trying to put in an appearance, but so did the rain, though there were only a few spits.

The hall itself is closed during January and February for cleaning but they still offer guided tours. We only go inside if we don't have Archie with us, so that isn't very often.

This little chapel dates back to the 1100's and services are still held there.

Dogs must be kept on leads in some parts of the estate so we always have a walk through the woods so that Archie can have a good wander and sniff about without being confined. It's nice for him to have a bit of freedom, he's always good and never tries to run off.

It's quite muddy at the moment so we kept mainly to the paths. The wild garlic is just starting to poke through the ground and when I accidentally stood on a shoot the pungent scent filled the air.

There's lots of moss covering fallen trees, I think they look attractive. When you look at moss really closely it's like looking at a miniature world.

Someone's been den building. I remember building dens myself when I was a child. We had a small common at the bottom of the street where I grew up and I'd spend hours there with friends. We had lots of fun making dens, climbing trees and playing hide and seek.

Can you see the face on this tree? A leftover from Halloween I believe. There was the outline of a bat on another tree.

There's lots of leaf litter covering the floor. Archie loves to run through fallen leaves, I think he enjoys the noise they make.

This garden is known as the William and Mary garden. It has a sunken pond which is a favourite with children, especially at frogspawn time as it usually fills up with tadpoles. There's a door right at the end of the wall which leads through into what used to be the kitchen garden.

There were quite a few people about on Sunday, particularly in the children's playground. The weather can keep families indoors during the winter months but a whiff of anything close to a fine day brings them out so that children can let off steam and adults can breathe in some fresh air.

We're lucky to have a choice of places close by where we can exercise Archie and enjoy our surroundings. Lotherton is a great place to visit during summer but there's plenty to see and do there during the winter months too.