A good turn out for a day that starts wet - 14 altogether.
And muddy
Very wet and muddy - most of us noticed too late that there was a parallel path in the fields on the right to avoid the worst of the slithering!
Nearing the end of purgatory
Note the glum faces - but better is promised by Mike
Striking fungi on the trees
We emerge into parkland with a great view of Pinbury Park, the estate of monastic origin, and the house restored by Ernest Gimson and Ernest and Sidney Barnsley in the simple Arts and Crafts style.
Owned by the Bathurst Family who used it as a summer residence from 1902 to 1928, it has been visited by distinguished guests including Queen Mary and Rudyard Kipling. The poet laureate John Masefield lived there from 1932 to 1940.
Besides the main house there are many other buidlings and workshops
We take in the scene
Sheep spot us and move off the path
The white sheep of the family!
We head down to a small lake, which was known as the fishpond in medieval times
Can't see any fish today - perhaps they are in the freezer!
The road entrance is quite a way up Dark Ride
Looking back where we have come from
We head towards the buildings
And some of us are delighted to see a great display of spring flowers, including aconites ...
Primroses and snowdrops ...
Cyclamen ...
A winter flowering clematis ...
All in the South facing border
The topiary yew hedge - the squirrel we think - needs a trim? The hedge was planted about 100 years ago by Gimson and the Barnsleys.
Another aconite
After crossing the River Frome we climb up through slithery woods and emerge on the hilltop to catch a distant view of Edgeworth Manor
We approach a clump of trees
"Gloucester Beeches" on the OS map
Not much fun this weather!
The polo ponies don't seem to mind the winter - it's their holidays!
We drop down through Dorvel Wood, with many plants thriving in the damp conditions, Here are the harts-tongue fern and many mosses. We finish through Sapperton churchyard, and spot the gravestones of Gimson and the Barnsley brothers
Photos by Heather, processed and uploaded by Mike