A trip to Blenheim palace

I had meant to publish this post s few days ago, but something happened which delayed me. All will be revealed at the end of the post.
We took a drive out to Blenheim palace, going on a weekday as Mick was on holiday, which meant there weren't too may queues.
We'd driven past the palace quite a few times, but this time it was solely for a day here.
We knew we were in for a treat and with the lovely weather adding to our day I managed to get some lovely pictures.

... a blue sky always helps!
The building itself is wonderful, with columns....

.......secret hideaways....

.........statues and features of all kinds....

.....corridors to many rooms....

....wonderful arches....

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....and more wonderful statues ( which I love)....

....we sat in the courtyard, overlooking the garden...

......which are stunning along with the fountains...

....more water features, and statues...

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...It's a magnificent place, no matter where you stand looking at it...

.....but this one is outstanding...

....but as we walked along, this caught my eye...

....I wanted a closer look....

.....he needs a clean, but I wasn't disappointed....

....what workmanship! it's a shame he's up there, he should be in the spotlight somewhere.
The gardens were beautful and I did take a coule of shots of the "secret garden"....

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.....we walked all the way around as we wanted to see as much as possible...

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....and this was taken on our stroll into the village of Woodstock...

...It was a lovely day. No photography is allowed in the palace, which I think is a shame, as in many places, it is now allowed. Hopefully that will change.
But what was it, that was keeping me from editing pictures and adding posts to my blog? .....

.....Our newest edition to the family. Our new grandson Michael, born on the 22nd September. Now we have five! Happy, happy days!!

Garden glories

We've had quite a bit of rain here in the last week. From major downpours to contant drizzle, and it's been quiet windy.You can't do anything about the weather, we get what we get and that's it! But it doesn't stop nature producing some gorgeous flowers.
The roses are all blooming again...

...and don't seem to mind the rain. Although the climber with big blooms still bows her heads, when it rains....

....but they are still so beautiful...

........the abutilons are flowering once again, and this one looks just wonderful...

....it reminds me of a fairy hat!!
The clematis bud I found was the most dramatic....

...now that's what I call watertight!
Enjoy your weekend!