Spring Comes to Kingston Lacy

Sunday was a warm, bright day and perfect for another visit to Kingston Lacy, the National Trust`s house and park near Wimborne, Dorset, that was originally the home of the Bankes family.

The snowdrop display was almost over.

Our two little Granddaughters and their Mum joined us for the walk.

So did Upsy Daisy.

Snowdrops were going to seed while primroses, aconites and crocuses were at their loveliest.

We walked through the walled garden.......

.....to find that several long established trees were missing in the park. The wild storm of Valentines Night felled some of the finest old trees. The remains have been cleared to leave space for new planting.

An oak is holding up its neighbour that was uprooted in the storms.

Some of the oldest trees in the wood seem to have survived.

Along the woodland walk, snowdrops have given way to drifts of daffodils.

Celandines were giving nectar to a newly hatched comma butterfly....

...and a shiny green fly.

A Brimstone butterfly was feeding, camouflaged on the right of this clump of primroses. 

We passed striking green bamboos.......

.....near the Japanese Garden.

....and walked back through the wild wood, where camelias were bursting into bloom in the unexpected sunshine.

Across the woods, a faint pale sheen of silvery green showed that leaf buds were ready to open for another spring.