Well, after all the fun of last week, it was a huge relief to enjoy the company of friends from the Netherlands and get out into the fresh air and relax.  Hopefully, Ofsted are satisfied with what they saw so we can get on with our real work for a while and await the nit picky bits in some weeks time.

The glorious Autumn weather has proved a great source of material for my photo blog and the obvious place for a Sunday morning walk was the National Arboretum, at Westonbirt, just up the road from us.

 

I think we chose the perfect time to enjoy this wonderful place.  The maple trees in the Acer Glade were a stunning variety of colour and the fire-reds and oranges were contrasted beautifully with those which were still green.  Not only that, but by arriving early, we had the place to ourselves* as you can see from the photographs!

The old trees stood majestically with their own character steadfast alongside the more showy individuals, their wonderful shapes and contortions of the trunks quietly inviting a closer look. 

A beautiful Hydrangea bush was at my favourite stage with the most wonderful palette of colours in every petal.

Along the way, we enjoyed interesting conversation, linguistic trivia and the company of friends.  What better way to spend a weekend?

 

* not really, but we missed the huge influx of people who were streaming into the car park as we were leaving. I think this could have been the busiest day of the year!

 

The full set of photos can be found on my Flickr page,