Furzey Gardens

After a sunny start , followed by a cloudy patch the day finally turned into a glorious sunny one. Karen and I decided to make the most of it with a trip to Furzey Gardens. We were told it was well sign posted and so we set off after lunch to find it. Well sign posted it wasn't, but eventually we got there. A leisurely stroll down to the pond was first, and we spent some time watching a family of moorhens and some pretty damselflies. Suddenly the lily pads moved and out jumped the most enormous fish I had ever seen.. Jaws of the New Forest. We then moved on without the help of the useless map and explored the rest of the gardens. it wasn't the best time of year to visit flower wise, and I was surprised to find that the hydrangeas were drooping any one would think we had had a dry summer! There are a couple of prety thatched cottages in the grounds. One is used as a Christian Retreat and is in a small private garden, and the other is a restored 16th century foresters cottage.
Next on the agenda was a short rest at the tea shop, although the cakes were tempting we decided to have Ice creams and then we visited the small art exhibition, before going back down to the pond. The moor hens were still running over the lily leaves but Jaws was in the middle of the pond occasionally jumping up and making a splash.
As we left I said "which way to we go out of th car park" and Karen said "Oh this way" No sign posts.....well we trundled down a dirt track full of pot holes and eventually came to a dead end. Through the trees we could see the traffic rushing past on the main road, not a lot of help if you can't see the way to get to it. Eventually after following another pot holed track we arrived at the dual carriage way and had to turn left going the wrong direction from home. However a driv ethrough the forest soon had us home.