2019 Day 7 – Stourhead and Bunnies on Thames

It’s an utterly perfect morn, blue skies abound and we’re touched by the lightest of summer’s early kiss.Having missed out on Stourhead the day before, we rectify that this morning with a walk around the lake.The grounds are glorious, made even more lovely by seemingly endless spring flowers.With plantings dating back to the 1700s, their scale is extraordinary. The gardens are further enhanced by a Floriana display.It’s the first time we’ve seen the grounds in flower.Rhododendrons dominate, but the sweet scent of honeysuckle wafts through the air and there are plantings even the guides struggle to identify. The one below being an example – possible the loveliest display and most unusual I’ve seen.Our thirst for flowers eventually sated,it’s a stop at the marvelous Stourhead Farm Shop to stock the freezer. We try to pop in each year – their produce is amongst the best we’ve encountered.Having stocked the freezer to the gills, we hit the road again, Henley on Thames bound. The traffic is kinder today – we arrive by mid afternoon without incident.Henley on Thames is lovely for many reasons, but the uppermost of these (for me, at least) is that it’s chock full of wabbits. True to form, on arrival, greeting us are not one, not two, not three, but four fat little bunnies. Finally, here is the England I love, home to Petie, he of the famed blue jacket and escapades in McGregor’s garden.The town beckons, but it’s hot and we’ve been many times before, instead it’s sun lounges out, cocktails at the ready and a relaxing afternoon ahead. In between reading, I spend a happy few hours spying on bunnies through binoculars.Unaware that they’re being watched, their sweet little faces are brightly wide eyed in repose. Overhead, plaintive cries of red tailed kites break the silence whilst closer by, cheeky ducks waddle in asking for treats and the sounds of children at play fill the air.Twilight descends rendering the grass a sea of flashing white tails. It’s official, I’m in bunny heaven.