A spring Sunday afternoon I could not a Forde to miss!

When I planned today's trip a few weeks ago, I had hoped for a glorious spring day for it and I was not disappointed.

This afternoon the weather was absolutely perfect for a trip to the stunning, Forde Abbey near Chard, with its spectacular fountain and 30 acres of gardens, not to mention a lovely tea room in the undercroft, a large and very tempting gift shop and a plant nursery.

It is just a 35 minute drive from home and the drive itself was a lovely way to start the trip.  I am familiar with the route to Chard which, from where I live is mainly country roads, with a very quick "hello" to the A303 and A30!  Someone I spoke to this morning said that they had often driven it in the summer and it had reminded them of being in the South of France.  I can quite see what they mean on a day like today!

It was once described as " the most perfect monastery in England", Forde Abbey is a beacon of elegant antiquity, set within exquisite countryside.

It was built 900 years ago by Cistercian monks.  It still embodies the serenity and philosophy of the monks who lived and prayed there.

Now Forde Abbey  is a stunning home to the Kennard family and has been for many years.  They continue to live and work there in an informal style.  Aswell as the house and gardens there is a working farm and a pick your own fruit farm.




Here are a couple of my first glimpses of Forde Abbey

No doubt about it...the satnav definitely took me to the right place this time!

I felt very grand driving down this entrance driveway with the house in all its glory at the bottom








Tickets are sold in the gift shop.  Today was the last day of the special discounted winter rate, so I paid £5.
I think it is usually around £7.50 and slightly more if you want to see around the house which opens at the beginning of April.  If you are in the area though you may find some leaflets at Tourist Info places with vouchers in for £2 off per person for up to a maximum of 4 people.

A very helpful and friendly ticket seller gave me a map and talked me through the opening times of the tea rooms and the switch on times of the fountain and he pointed out the various attractions on the map.

I took some time just to orientate myself with these surroundings and then headed to the tearoom. I had missed lunch which finished at 2pm (I have heard that their food is very good and mainly uses local produce, including many things grown on the Forde Abbey farm and in their kitchen garden).

  I did not get a picture of the inside of the restaurant as my phone camera is not too good at taking indoor snaps, but this is a picture of the outside of the restaurant!  I quite like the snail quote on the bin, seen all over the estate.

After a nice, huge homemade flapjack lunch and coffee I headed for a proper stroll around the gardens, heading first to the Centenary fountain, England's tallest powered fountain.  I took so many pictures, but here are just a few of them:

The house in the background with the spectacular fountain and a lovely swingy seat!

A beautiful rainbow appeared to the right of the fountain!

The fountain like a firework, went far higher than this tall tree!

This one I took right into the sun light, but I quite like the effect!  Looks like the figure is skating on the shimmering water beneath the sun!

Again this was taken right into the sun, but I like the sunny, misty screen that comes 3/4 way across the picture!











Now, I will show you some more of the gardens.  I did not get around the whole estate and will definitely return again, in a different season to see it again and to see some of the gardens that I missed.

Me on the swingy seat overlooking the Centenary fountain pond

Cute pony grazing in the grounds

Everywhere I looked there were daffodils and crocus'!

Unplanned, my top and cardigan matched their surroundings! Pink, purple and yellow flowers and green leaves!

2 stone dogs guard the entrance to the large kitchen garden

The kitchen garden where much of the food for the restaurant is grown












Well, that's about as much of the gardens as I saw today.  There were a lot of the 30 acres that I did not get a chance to see.  Another day!

Alan Titchmarsh has described the gardens as "One of the greatest gardens in the West Country"

It has also been listed as one of the ten best places in England.

If you want to read more about the place or plan a visit, click on this link

See you next time from somewhere beginning with G!

To E or not to E?

Well, certainly the first drive I took to an 'E' turned out to be not to E!  It didn't seem to exist!  A couple of weeks ago I drove to Ebbor Gorge, near Wookey Hole - well I had hoped to.  It looked lovely on the website! But I think that the post code on the website was wrong. I double checked it and checked it again when I got home.  My sat nav said "You have reached your destination!"  I replied to it saying "I don't think I have!"  With that the rain came down and I pressed 'Home' on the sat nav, asking it to direct me home! Mission not accomplished, but it took me via Street, so I did accomplish a bit of shopping on the way!

So, today I needed to find another 'E' place. There are not that many around here and I needed it to be fairly local as I was not able to set out until mid afternoon.

I decided upon driving to Enmore, just 8 miles from home.  I have never actually heard of it before, but am glad that I discovered it as I browsed a map of Somerset the other evening.

There are several ways to get to it from Taunton, but the way that I chose was the one that leads off the road to Bridgwater, before you get to North Petherton from Taunton.  The drive through some lovely, very narrow country lanes brought me out at the bottom of this long village.  Cheekily I parked in the large pub car park of the Enmore Inn, intending to go in there at the end of my walk for some refreshment.

Had I not had a substantial lunch at home before going over to Enmore, I may well have tried one of their Sunday carveries.  The car park was very full, so its a good indication that the food was probably fabulous as their name banner boasts!  Maybe another day I will try it!

From the pub I followed the road up through this beautiful Quantock village. Its a very long village I discovered as I walked through it.  Its a perfect village for a spring Sunday afternoon stroll and I noticed that there were many public foot paths leading through fields around the village.  Limited for time, I just stuck to the road.   My walking was accompanied with the sound of singing birds and bleeting sheep and bright, dancing daffodils lined my route.

At the top of the village is the church and the castle and another pub.

I will end this short posting with some more pictures of the village, as it was today on this beautiful early spring afternoon.

Prettiness!

This place was packed with Golfers enjoying the spring sunshine 

This dosn't really do any justice to just how green the fields were!

The pub at the top of the village

Dug fields with church in the background

There were lots of green fields in this village

Pretty church lane

The only bit of the castle I saw!

Prettiness!

To read more about Enmore, its location and its history, click on this link.

Thanks for reading this! See you next time from somwhere beginning with F!