A bit of an early start today, I was out with Meg & Gracie at 6.15am for a short walk on the Barff, I was looking for the Bee Orchids which have just come into flower. It was a lovely bright and sunny morning, 9c with quite a fresh light westerly breeze. I had been looking for the Orchids for several weeks now and finally managed to find a pair this morning, so I was feeling quite happy with myself.

 After a light breakfast and because it was such a nice morning (contrary to the weather forecast) I, Meg, and Gracie headed off to Castle Howard for a walk around the Walled Garden and grounds. It was just after 9.15am as we arrived in the car park at Castle Howard, and we made our way to the Courtyard Café for a coffee. The sun was still shining as we made our way across the cobbled stones of the Courtyard to the Booking Office. It was relatively quiet with just a small handful of visitors enjoying a coffee in the sunshine. Passing through the arch way, we stopped for a few moments to admire the view towards the house, a pair of Oystercatchers caught my attention as they flew over my head, heading for the South Lake. The meadow pasture between the gatehouse and the house has been nicely cut with huge swathes of grass left where the Daffodils were. We made our way to the Walled Garden passing the mobile drinks station on the lawn to our right and walked through the wrought iron gate into the Walled Garden. The sound of the resident Peacocks resonated through the garden and beyond.  The border on the left was an absolute picture. Giant Alliums the size of footballs, Great Master Wort, Cotton Thistle, Dames Violet, some beautiful Purple Bellflowers, lovely red coloured Penstemon and thistle looking Eryngo to name just a few of the plants and shrubs all adding loads of colour to the border. The 7^th Earl of Carlisle was standing proud and regal as he looked over the garden and vegetable garden. The view from the wrought iron gate looking along the length of the garden towards the Gardenner’s House at the far end is always a pleasing one and especially when all the Rose beds are in full flower. We left the Walled Garden through the gate adjacent to the Lime Avenue and headed towards the Atlas Fountain, although the fountain wasn’t running, the view looking towards the house across the neatly cut lawn is always a very pleasant one. From here it is just a few minutes’ walk across the lawn to the main house. We turned right and stopped for a few moments to take a picture of one of Tony Craggs sculptures entitled ‘Industrial Nature’, before heading up the grassy slope to ‘Ray Wood, passing the vibrant orange sculpture of ‘Versus’, another of Tony Craggs creations. On reaching the top of the slope and the entrance to the woods, we stopped for a few moments to appreciate the view looking back towards the house as well as that of the ‘South Lake’. Passing through the five-bar wooden gate, we followed the path through the woods, many of the Rhododendrons had already flowered but still looked lush and vibrant, Common Starwort and Foxgloves added additional colour to the woods. Meg enjoyed her customary roll amongst the mounds of autumn leaves which had blown up alongside the fence. After a few minutes we reached ‘The Temple of Four Winds’, the views from here be it looking Southwards towards the ‘Mausoleum’ or towards the ‘New Bridge’ or that looking Northeast across the open fields always stops me in my tracks. This morning, we sat for several minutes in the sunshine to admire the view and watched a pair of Buzzards circling high above a grove of trees in the distance. Whilst here, I climbed the steps of the Temple to have a look at another of Tony Craggs creations entitled ‘Eroded Landscape’, situated inside the Tempe. You will remember several weeks ago I visited Castle Howard to look at all the creations and found them all less this one, not thinking at the time to look inside the building!

On leaving the ‘Temple’ we headed along the grassy terrace for a few minutes, stopping to look at the Red and Lilac coloured Rhododendron bushes which were still in flower, before heading down to the ‘Temple Hole’ to the East of the ‘South Lake’. Passing the ‘Shepherd Boy’, I remember from previous years all the Common Spotted Orchids growing through the long grass, close to the water’s edge, along with Yellow Flag Irises, today was no different and the whole area was covered in Common Spotted Orchids and Flag Irises. We continued along the water’s edge, I managed to photograph some of the Orchids before climbing up the slope to the ‘South Lake’. On the side of the bank was a beautiful Mute swan, busily preening itself in the morning sunshine, its partner feeding in the lake along with several Moorhens.  Although Meg and Gracie were on a short lead, I kept them both close to me and gave the swans a wide berth, so we didn’t disturb them. We continued along the South side of the lake heading for the house, turning right at the end of the lake and made our way over to have a look and photograph the ‘The Runner’ another of Tony Craggs tall bronze sculptures. We continued our walk back to the house and made our way to the courtyard. We passed some contractors who were busily erecting scaffolding to the West end of the main house. On reaching the Courtyard we called in to the Courtyard café for a most enjoyable late brunch, Meg and Gracie both grateful for a chance to have a snooze under my table, before the journey home.