Monday 4 April 2011

A Sunday Spring Walk

We decided to make the most of the milder weather and packed up a picnic, jumped in the car and drove out into the countryside to enjoy the lovely Spring day. 

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Our picnic spot about halfway round was going to be the ruins of Baconsthorpe Castle, not a castle as such but a manor house that was crenelated, built in the 1400’s.  Along the way we passed what we affectionately call the Troll House but actually called Ralphs.  This house stands on the edge of some lovely tranquil woods overlooking some fields and this dwelling has an unusual grass roof.

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On arrival at Baconsthorpe Castle, several other people had decided to picnic there also but all of these had arrived by car.  In fact over the whole walk of just under 6 miles we didn’t see one other person walking in the countryside.  We sat on the bank of the moat and watched the geese, ducks and other waterfowl enjoying the quiet waterway and munched our way through our picnic fare. 

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We sat in the sun, warm enough to sit in our shirt sleeves, the dogs were hot from all their running to and fro. 

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Once recovered we gathered up our belongings and headed off back through Baconsthorpe village and back to the car.  Along the way there were plenty of spring babies to be seen.

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One mystery we don’t know the answer for is what is this strange looking plant?  I have looked through some wild flower books I have and haven’t found it yet.  Does anyone have any idea?

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3 comments:

  1. Beautiful Hike! I can't believe no one else was walking.

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  2. Hi Sara, I just found your blog and I am slowly reading through it and enjoying it. I would like to solve your plant mystery - it is an Equisetum (horsetail) plant. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Equisetum. We have way too many of them in our garden and can't get rid of them.

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  3. Thanks Zili for solving the plant mystery. Yes we have a little in our garden but I have never seen it at this weird stage.

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