Violet Carpet!

Today was our 48th Wedding Anniversary.

What an idyllic day for it: sunny and warm!

We decided that we should go out for a celebratory lunch, of which more later. But we went for a little stroll before eating, and came upon a large pond with a small island reachable by a plank bridge.

Everywhere on the island was covered with violets, but just over the bridge, we found this patch that is the subject of the main photograph. Here you may see another photographs of the violets amongst the flowering gorse. We've never seen such a mass of violets clustered together like this.

To our great surprise, we even found some llamas on the way back to the car...

We had checked out the "gastropub" at which we intended to lunch on Saturday. See my BlipFoto entry for 2 April 2011, and the photographs here.

This pub has one Michelin star, and turned out to be really good. We have known this place as a watering hole for about 45 years, but in 2006, new owners decided that high-end food was to be the name of the game. This is the website of the pub for those who might be interested.

It might be indecent (and smack of gluttony) to describe all the dishes that we ate. But here are a few sample photographs of the starter and puddings that we ate:
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Mosaic of foie gras, sweetbreads and ham hock: sauce gribiche
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Warm dark chocolate fondant : cardamon ice cream, orange jelly, toasted almonds
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Poached Yorkshire rhubarb: panacotta, ginger mille feuille, rhubarb sherbet
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After that bit of indulgence, we walked off (some of) the food by a stroll in a beautiful wood nearby that is renowned for the profusion of butterflies found there.

More delights waited us there, with a real profusion of primroses. and many other wild flowers. We had obviously hit just the right moment.

Here is another picture of the primroses, and the beginning of the path. And, finally:

another view of the path, further on, and

My companion on the path.

A brilliant anniversary!!!!