Picnic two

Having done picnic one on Saturday (see reference 1), Sunday was another bright day and we thought to do picnic two at Polesden Lacey. But once in the car we diverted to Claremont Landscape Gardens at Esher, which we now appear to have last visited getting on for a year ago (see reference 2).

On arrival, lawless to the extent that we ignored the sign saying car park full, went in against the one way system and got a spot straight away. To be fair to the sign, the car park was more or less full, but it was lunch time and people were leaving.

Decided against tea and cake on arrival and set off anti-clockwise around the big pond, to find the dragon illustrated, a rare use of the zoom capability of the telephone, otherwise only managing to focus about one snap in two. The gardens were clearly not exempt from the National Trust attempts to provide amusements for children, no longer content with their core business from pensioners like ourselves.

Lots of chain saw action to keep the more or less feral rhododendrons under control. Lots of chain saw action on what they call the north terrace, a bit of hillside falling away down to Claremont Fan School, a school which is devoted to Christian Science and which occupies the big house which was once attached to the Landscape Gardens. Also a monument to Palladio, fashionable at the time of its building, which meant, inter alia, fake doors to maintain balance & proportion and hidden passages for servants who might otherwise sully the interior vistas. Visited by us on an open day, long before the invention of blogs.

Lots of mistletoe, not yet designated an invasive species, ripe for extermination.

Lots of young families with young children.

The grass areas were mostly in a very sad condition. The combination of footfall, geese and the winter was clearly too much for them. They looked to me as if they could do with a year off to recover, but I doubt whether the National Trust is up for such desperate measures.

Contrariwise, I was reminded that the gardens include some very fine trees. Also some snowdrops, winter aconites, camellias and daffodils. With a promise of a lot more to come in a few weeks time.

As it turned out, by the time we found a suitable spot for a picnic, it was no longer terribly bright. But we did have a good view over the big pond.

And entertained on the way home, by the car pulling up alongside us at some traffic lights, containing a young lady in the passenger seat calmly smoking what appeared to be a reefer. The things they get up to in Esher.

Reference 1: http://psmv3.blogspot.co.uk/2018/02/picnic-one.html.

Reference 2: http://psmv3.blogspot.co.uk/2017/04/claremont.html.

Reference 3: http://www.claremontfancourt.co.uk/. With this elaborate website including a mission statement starting with the words: 'To provide an environment where the God-given potential of every individual is recognised and valued'.

Reference 4: http://pumpkinstrokemarrow.blogspot.co.uk/search?q=claremont+macbeth. The earliest recorded visit to Claremont, back in June 2012, back in the days of bag life.

Group search key: cmb.