The Ha-Ha Walk

 Last week's visit and walk took us to Biddulph Grange Gardens.  It was raining when we arrived so we decided to stop for coffee and a scone first and by the time we came out of the café the rain had petered out and there was a watery sun in the sky.

The Fuchsias in the urns down each side of the steps were looking wonderful.

We wandered down the Lime Avenue and discovered at the bottom that the Ha Ha Walk was open again.  We'd walked it once but then it seemed to close for quite a while .

The walk runs along between the sunken wall of the Ha-Ha and the metal fencing belonging to the country park.

The wall is a great haven for plants and wildlife.

Everywhere was leaf strewn.

About halfway along is a small diversion into a wildlife area.

Bird feeders and insect hotels

Lots of fungus too on fallen trees

The Ha Ha Walk comes out on to the Wellingtonia Walk.

When we first visited Biddulph Grange these were small saplings that had just been planted.

Look at them now after nearly thirty years of growth.

The steps and walk up to the Geological Gallery.

Above is the area where James Bateman's Music House stood.

Below, inside James Bateman's Geological Gallery.

All for now.  Take care.

Busy

 The first three days of September have been busy with work on the conservatory taking up to two or three days of each week.  All was completed yesterday and now we are getting back to normal and things are finally finding their homes again.

In between the work and also the rain we've had a couple of days out and about.  

When we visit the Peak Wildlife Park we always head straight for the Red Pandas.  There are two sisters Esha and Riya.  They are both gorgeous.

We also always look for the Red Squirrels and this one was spotted scampering about.

I've realised that I'm drawn to 'Red'  animals and our Red Fox garden visitor is always welcome.  Having said that I'm also fond of cats and hares.

A few days ago we visited Little Moreton Hall in our quest to visit all the nearby National Trust properties at least once this year.  We've now done all three local ones.  It's time to venture further afield.

I've taken you to Little Moreton Hall, a moated manor house, many times on this blog, usually for special events at Christmas or Midsummer.

I've added a few more photos of things that caught my eye during our visit which included lunch of a cheese scone in the tiny tea shop.

All for now.  Take care.

Monday

 On Monday we visited Ilam (pronounced eye-lamb) Park, in the Staffordshire Village of Ilam.  It is a 158 acre site which sits on either side of the River Manifold. It's managed by the National Trust.

  It seems ages since we last walked there.  I'd have to search back through my photos to see when it was.  I searched on here and came up with a post of November 2021, so possibly that was the last time.   

Ilam Hall, which was re-built and re-designed in the 1820s by the Watts-Russell family, was donated to the National Trust in 1934.  The main hall is leased to The Youth Hostel Association.

How the hall used to look before part of it was demolished in the 1930s.

Above The Church of the Holy Cross. 

The remains of a Saxon Cross on Paradise Walk. It was found in the foundations of a cottage in the village of Ilam in the 1840s.

Morning Coffee at the tea rooms and a visit to the bookshop before a quick photograph of another wallaby.

This one is Walla-B Fierce painted and illustrated by Ella Kasperowicz in collaboration with Pride in the Moorlands.

It was a lovely morning for a walk, dry and not too warm. There were lots of families enjoying themselves on the Mole Trail.

It was time to move on to our next destination for lunch and another wallaby.  I'll save that for a later post.

A Walk in the Rain and the first Wallaby

 Yesterday we walked in soft and gentle rain at Biddulph Grange Country Park.  The country park is next door to the National Trust's Biddulph Grange Gardens and was originally part of the same estate.

It is 35 hectares of landscaped views and natural features designed by Victorian industrialists James Bateman and Robert Heath. 

There are both original and newly laid out paths through both meadow and woodland leading to the lake and it's boathouse built in 1903.

A Hydro-electric scheme begun in 1904 was reinstated in 2000 and provides sustainable power for local use.

We walked as far as the lake, you can see the boathouse in the distance and the rain on the lake.

Back at the visitor centre we spotted the Wallaby.  There are ten in all and they are part of the Where's Wallaby trail around the towns and beauty spots of the Staffordshire Moorlands.  Why wallabies? There is a story to tell.  

At the time of the second world war five Bennett's wallabies escaped into the wild from a zoo at Roaches Hall run by a man called Henry Courtney Brocklehurst.  Sadly he lost his life in Burma during the war.  The wallabies bred and at one time as many as fifty were counted on and around the Roaches.

There are now wallabies at the Peak Wildlife Park who are celebrating their 10th Anniversary this year.  Hence ten wallabies.  They have joined with Outside, Wild in Art and the Staffordshire Moorlands Council to commission ten artists to work with ten community groups to create the wallabies.

The Wallaby above is called Berry B painted by Clare Ash and the Biddulph Youth and Community Zone.

Above a Wallaby and Joey taken at Peak Wildlife Park in February this year.

The exhibition runs from 18th July to 5th September so we have plenty of time to seek out the other nine over the summer.