You meet the strangest people!

Today we visited Trentham Gardens.  We tried to go when down here with Kat in September however their not saying on the website that the gardens closed early because of a concert meant we hadn't time.

I will admit that today wasn't the best time of year or the best weather but we had a very enjoyable day.  We started with a walk round the lake (a couple of miles or so) this gave us chance to see all sorts of tree new to us and marvel at how tame the Coots were.  I am used to Coots hurrying away from you, these were out feeding beside the paths and if you stopped walking they ran towards you not away.  Owing to Avian Flu currently there is no feeding of the birds.

This gentleman was just poling out of the reeds at the outflow of the Lake.  Despite the numerous stainless steel wire fairies round the gardens, he appealed to me most for a blip.  We had a wonderful lunch in the cafe, where Clickychick explained to the waitress what dumplings are, she served them but didn't know what they were.

We were too late in the year to see the gardens at their best but we had an interesting afternoon looking at the ruins of the hall, followed by a wander round the shopping area outside the gates.