Hiley Website

On the way home from Suffolk to took up the invite for two nights at our friends in Keyworth, Nottingham.

Pat and Mike have known Ann longer than I have . . . so that is a bit special.

The sunny weather of Suffolk continues on so that we have the opportunity to enjoy lunch outside on both days.



Domestic duties helped by the fine weather . . .	. . . the blokes make a good job of hanging out the washing !

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After lunch Pat and her son Ian took us on a walk around one of their local country parks.

We chose the first entry gate off the roundabout . . . which turned out to be a secondary entrance to the park.

The first part of the parkland seemed very wild and natural . . . hardly an urban country park.

A field within the perimeter fence contains a recently planted orchard.



The park benches have some delightful wood carvings . . .	. . . the area is becoming more of a urban parkland.

Signboards give everyone the chance to identify the local flora and fauna.

[ It seems strange for us in Cumbria to see the grey squirrel promoted in such a positive way. ]

The wide path takes us further round . . . through an area of wild flower meadows.

The younger dogs, Dylan and Tada are always ahead, enjoying a good run around.

An interesting flower looks familiar but not quite right.

. . . but another sign gives us the correct name of Tansy for our new plant.



The area is helping the butterflies too . . .	. . . even if they move just as I press the shutter.

Towards the far end of the park is an adventure playground but the jumps and rides look a bit different. They were too big for toddlers, too small for bikes. The answer was found at the entrance gate. The paw prints are the give-away.

This is a purpose-made dog agility park for the general public to use . . . well actually for the dogs to use.

Ann and Pat had taken Harry on a shorter route to the main lake but Ian and I had Dylan and Tada with us as we reached this part of the park.



Dylan coped with the see-saw quite well . . .	. . . but couldn't get the idea of jumping through the tyre.

Come on Dylan . . . run through the tunnel . . . " you must be joking ! " he seemed to say.

Hold your cursor over the picture to his expression.



Dylan ran along the extended bench . . .	. . . but Ian's dog Tada declined to join him.

Further around the park we turned a corner and the whole scene changed.

Here was an adventure playground, toilets and refreshments . . . the ice cream van doing particularly well today.

In the centre of the park is the lake that Pat talked about whilst we were driving over.

The lake was a great attraction for a large selection of wildfowl.

A delightful mute swan passes close to the camera.

Out on an island are some gulls and a darker moorhen.

We met up again with Ann and Pat and continue on around the lake.

On the way out of the park we passed a rather impressive set of gates.

It turns out that this is the back entrance of the Great Central Railway, a preservation line that runs from Nottingham to Loughborough.

The Great Central Railway is the UK's only double track, main line heritage railway . . . quite a big operation.

They have special gala weekends and events and you can even book an evening meal to be enjoyed in the restaurant cars on the line.

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Back home the warm weather continues right up to dusk.

The sky was turning a delightful pink colour which I viewed from an upstairs window.

But it was much nicer to sit in the garden and enjoy the spectacle.

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On the way home next day we stopped off at Tickhill and stayed for a lovely lunch with our daughter Paula, Al, Tom and Abi.

Tom has just received a good set of O Level results which were celebrated with smiles all round.

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