Bluebell hunting in Castle Ward

On Bank Holiday Monday we took the camper van down to Castle Ward for a picnic and a spot of bluebell hunting.  It was a lovely sunny day but a bit breezy but we found a nice spot by a tree that was a bit sheltered and had a rather nice view of the lough in one direction...

And a view of the gothic side of the house in the other direction.

After a picnic of crusty bread, cheese and ham, George and his dad played a spot of football and we packed up the picnic things then headed off looking for some bluebells.

They weren't hard to find!  We used to come to Castle Ward when I was little and I always remember the seas of blue along the paths.  

Portaferry was looking lovely in the sunshine.

I really liked this little window, it turns out that it was where a person would stand to weigh things that were on the weighbridge.  They would have had the window open and inside there were a set of scales so they could determine the weight of whatever was on the weighbridge outside.

Having a look at the ducks.

And the goats.

Just before this shot a gust of wind blew George's sun hat into the duck pond.  Dee had to rescue it with a branch, and was cheered on by some other visitors!

A view of Audley's Castle from the end of Temple Water.  I love how they must have planned the view so the Castle was framed in the middle!

The wild garlic was amazing, it looks so pretty and smelled fantastic.  In fact after we got home we decided we really wanted some for our garden so I had a look on eBay and found a Scottish lady selling some from her garden so I just had to buy it, I've planted it at the back of our house so hopefully next spring we will have scenes like this in our garden!

More bluebells.

There were some gorgeous patches of daisies too.  I wish we had more daisies in our grass but we are just overrun with dandelions instead. :-(

There were some elegant swans swimming about on the water.

I liked these fancy gates.

When we were walking back to the camper van George fell asleep so we stopped on a bench in front of the house for a cup of tea and a bun.  The camper certainly stood out a bit amongst the cars!

Island Hill

One breezy Sunday George and I took a trip to Island Hill, the last time we were there it was a lovely sunny day but unfortunately the tide was right in so we didn't actually get to go out to the island.  Determined not to make the same mistake twice, this time I actually checked the tide tables to make sure the tide would be out and it certainly was....

The place looks so different when the tide is out.

There was some beautiful blossom in the hedgerows.

This is the path out to the island.

I spotted these walls and steps and wondered if maybe there had been a house on the island at some stage?

The view towards Scrabo tower.

The branches of the hedges had all this moss growing over it, very magical looking

There is a small airport in Newtownards and there were lots of small planes tootling about in the sky.

I loved the mustard yellow of this rock, it reminded me of this coat!

Island Hill is off the dual carriage way between Comber and Newtownards in County Down.  It is free to visit, there is a car park and the walk is pretty accessible apart from the bit from the main path across the lough to the island path which is a pebbly beach.  There are picnic tables near the car park and it would definitely be a good spot for a picnic or even a fish supper ;-)

Blossom at Rowallane

On a sunny Tuesday, after a trip to the dentist, me and George along with my mum and her friend Lorna headed to Rowallane to have a walk round.  Mum, George and I had been there back in March to look around the Spring Ground there but when we were there then spring hadn't really sprung and there wasn't much out in bloom.  A month definitely makes a big difference!  The place was full of blossom this time!

Gorgeous apple trees.

I thought this was some sort of big snowdrop but it's actually called summer snowflake.

After watching Gardener's world feature on magnolias the other week I really fancy getting one for our garden, although I'd say it's take a good few years before it was this big!

The branches and blooms made a lovely pattern against the blue skies.

Masses of forget me nots.

Rowallane is well known for its masses of Rhododendrons.  I particularly liked this one, it looks quite like the one in our garden, although our one is no where near blooming yet. 

I think these are woodland anemones.

The courtyard was looking very nice in the sunshine...

So one of us stopped to have a bit of a picnic!

It was a lovely day out although be warned, at this time of the year the cafe isn't open on a Tuesday and for some reason they have closed the shop :-(

Delamont

A couple of Sundays ago we took our first day trip of the year in the camper van, down to Delamont near Killyleagh for a bit of a walk before lunch.  It was a bit cloudy and windy but when the sun did come out of hiding it was actually pretty warm.  I hadn't been to Delamont in years.  It's run by Down Council and it costs £4 per car to get in.  We just had a bit of a walk around but there is a little railway for kids and there was a place selling coffee which is always nice on a Sunday morning!

Nice view of the Mournes.

This is the Millenium stone, it was put up by lots of scouts in 1999.

Getting wrapped up... it was pretty breezy at the top of this hill.

It was the start of the spring series yacht races that day, here they all are milling around before the start of the race.

Lovely daffodils.

As you go around Delamont there are bits of green gym equipment to use.  You can get a season ticket for £25 so you can go as many times as you like, definitely much cheaper than a regular gym, but maybe a bit miserable if it's raining!

There were lots of freshly ploughed fields, I wonder what they're going to plant here?  Will have to go back later in the summer to find out I suppose!.

The walk around takes you down close to the shore of Strangford Lough and there are a few pebbly beaches you can get out on to.

There were lots of cute lambs about but as soon as I got the camera out they made a run for it!

Finally we spotted this old walled garden, it's all over grown which is a pity.  There is even an old glass house hidden in there.  It would be great if they could get someone to take this on and run it to grow veggies to sell or use in a local cafe or something.

Anyway, Delamont is well worth a visit, I'm very tempted to invest in a season ticket as I think we might become regular visitors!