Surprise!

A wet early morning walk with the ladies but even though there were few of us in number it was nice to be in their company.

It was still pretty damp when we set off mid morning to South Yorkshire but it soon became clear there hadn’t  been much rain further south and, though still initially overcast, it was warm when we arrived at NT Wentworth Castle Gardens.

We had a timed slot booked but arrived about ten minutes early. No problem, so we made our way straight to the coffee.
As it was midday we decided on a sandwich too. So we were set for the afternoon. 
The house is now a college with great views over extensive parkland. We made our way through the more formal gardens to the castle which is a folly and nearby is a lovely, shady fernery - we saw one of these last week at Brodsworth Hall but this was more extensive. 
The wild Angelica flowers were a buzz with Meadow Browns  but I couldn’t get one with its wings open. Still I was surprised when I downloaded them to find a mystery bug on there too, don’t think it’s a hover fly, so I’ve included it in my collage.

It’s another collage as I couldn’t resist the wild flower borders in front of the house. I would love these in my garden. I love poppies and I especially like the California ones.

The surprise, apart from the bug? This wasn’t where I thought we were going! As soon as I realised it wasn’t the big house I was expecting I knew we’d gone wrong! Never mind it was a very pleasant afternoon, hot by the end of it, and being NT members we didn’t have to pay. 
So what to do? Go back after our walk and find a picnic table in the shade and get tea and cake and book the right place (not NT - that’s where I went wrong) for next week!