Another Visit

It is only a month since I last visited Stourhead but it is always a pleasure to visit these lovely gardens. The Autumn colours are of course another attraction and in this we were not alone. When we arrived at the car park on a beautifully sunny Sunday lunchtime we were directed through the rows and rows of cars to the second overflow car park. This actually proved to be a relatively quite and sunny spot for our picnic lunch.

We then set off on our walk to be greeted by the classic view of the lake with a number of people also taking in the beauty.

 

It is at this point that the path forks and we normally set off to the right. Yesterday we decided to break with convention and go clockwise!

It was a calm bright day and the reflections in the lake were first class.

Equally we had a slightly different view with a lot of what would normally be behind us fully in view.

We also took a little detour through the woods to view some scrap sculptures giving a real autumnal feel to the day.

It brought us out at the back of the cottage.

 A different approach to that from my last visit.

You can see how much the leaves have turned in a month. I overheard one man telling his girlfriend "give them a good tug and they will soon come off". Not quite the spirit when there were plenty on the grass.

Our route took us on towards the steps down to the grotto. 

This gave us a different outlook on the exterior.

Then we had a leisurely walk back along to the start.

It was remarkable how many people the gardens absorbed without any feeling of being overcrowded. The large number of people was perhaps most evident when after deliberating between lemon curd and coffee mocha ripple ice cream we discovered they had run out!