To the castle

We have some wonderful estates and gardens around by us and one of my favourites is Castle Ashby. I first went their last year with some of my friends whilst our children were at school. We had lunch at the little cafe and i fell in love with the orangery in the gardens. I have wanted to take the girls back there but i wanted to take them when i knew the flowers were blooming and it was slightly warmer. We actually intended on going to a national trust place today but i decided to bring them to Castle Ashby in the end as they have a little area where there are meerkats and farm animals.

As soon as the girls saw the orangery, they loved it just as much as i did and we spent a pretty long time in there, looking at all of the different trees and plants and watching the koi carp in the pond. We then had a lovely walk around the grounds and went to see the bigger carp in another pond.

I love this place. It is full of hidden places. We found a huge willow tree and found a way in through it's leaves and sat underneath it for a while as there were lots of other children running around. We like our quiet spaces. We shall be heading back in a few weeks as they have a green house full of so many different roses and they were just starting to bloom. We cannot wait to see them all once they are all flowered! It really is a magical place and so close to our house! I think the orangery is now our new favourite hang out.