Gatton Park

Another bright and sunny day, another very cold day with much frost. After breakfast we headed off to Reigate to walk around Gatton Park, which is another National Trust property near us that I have not yet visited. Although we were there quite early the small car park was full, and there was nowhere to park - we ended up parking over the very busy main road at a hotel which charged £10 for 24 hours, no part payment. A complete rip off but we had no choice so paid up.

The walk was a little disappointing for me - it was 5 km along an extremely muddy track, up and down again and surrounding Gatton Park, so you had views of the park but could not enter it. The park was designed by the famous 18th century landscape architect Capability Brown and I had seen some lovely photos of the lakes and views, but it is all fenced off and you cannot get near the lakes - the closest I got was the image in my extra. It was extremely muddy in parts where your boots almost got stuck in the deep sludge - so not a great place to walk in winter, perhaps in summer it may be more appealing. In this view you can see some frost still lying in the shadows in the foreground.

We had the sense to bring the portable shower with us so could wash Xena off before putting her back in the car before going home.

Back home for lunch, then we had to go through our tax returns - boring - and now Gavin has gone to the driving range. And so it is nearly the end of another weekend!