Having a ball

Paid a visit today to Trentham Gardens, near Stoke-on-Trent, which presented a few decent photo opportunities.

There were fields of daffodils, immaculate gardens, wonderful crumbling buildings and fascinating sculptures, of which the above were among the most intriguing.

It's not a cheap place to visit, but we had a pleasant morning strolling around a mile-long lake and investigating the remains of a stately home.

Whoever runs the Trentham Estate has shown how to make old Capability Brown-designed gardens an important tourist attraction that seems to be able to generate money. It has a large shopping 'village', impressive cafes within its grounds and a 'monkey forest' featuring Barbary macaques.

There were hundreds of cars in the car park, which underlined its popularity. but the gardens are so big you never even noticed the large number of visitors.