After heavy overnight rain and an early morning dog walk, after breakfast we headed up the A1 to meet one of my sons and his family at Thorpe Perrow Arboretum for the day. It was a quiet and un uneventful 50minute drive up the A1 arriving at the visitors centre for about 11. o’clock. The car park was relatively quiet with just a scattering of cars. It was a lovely morning, the sun was shining, 12C with just a slight breeze.  Due to the current Coronavirus Pandemic, we completed the appropriate track and trace paperwork and scanned the appropriate tracking app before entering the grounds.  After exchanging pleasantries with a cup of tea and chat we followed the trail, passing the play area on our left, continuing along the ‘water steps path’ keeping the stream on the right, the trees at this time of year were looking absolutely stunning, especially with the sun shining on them and a clear blue sky. This is one of my favourite sections of the trail. After passing the bridge over to Henry’s island we stopped for a few moments to look at the pet cemetery before continuing to the head of the main avenue to admire the stunning vista across the main lake. Continuing along the main path, passing Kates island on the right and admiring the tree sculpture, we followed the track to the bridge adjacent to the Milbank Plantation. The colours on the trees and the reflections in the water looked beautiful. From the bridge we continued following the trail towards the Bird of Prey centre, the flying show had just started as we arrived so we stayed and watched as the falconer flew about four birds across the flying ground. The falconer and the birds kept the audience’s attention with lots of ooohs and ahhhhs as the birds flew low over our heads. After a pleasant 30 minutes watching the owls and eagles flying, we headed through the small shop to have a walk through the mammal centre. The Meerkats were on good form as were the goats, geese and chickens, although we could see the wallabies from a distance, unfortunately we couldn’t walk amongst them as this area had been cordoned off due to the pandemic. On leaving the mammal centre we headed towards the ‘Jubilee Oak’ at the head of ‘Birch Avenue’ and continued round to the ‘Acorn Sculpture’, the pampas grasses looked beautiful as they swayed gently in the breeze. We continued our walk through the trees, crossing the ‘main avenue’ and back to the coffee shop for brunch before our journey home. A beautiful day, lovely weather and great company.