a cold day

I need to get some fresh air and Anniemay wants to test drive her new wellies in freezing cold conditions. 

We head for Stowe Gardens (again).  We ended up walking a route we’d not taken, or even known about, before.  Signed as ‘The Woodland Walk’ it took us around and outside of the walled areas, through fields with the grounds always on our left.

At one point I notice a white lump in the trees that mark the boundary of the gardens.  It looks like a sheep and as we get nearer, it turns out to be just that.  But it’s not moving, just staring at us.  And appears to be alone.  I say to Anniemay that I think it’s in trouble - stuck perhaps in the brambles.  She gallops over and discovers that there’s barbed wire around its feet.  She disentangles it and it looks non-plussed and continues to stand and stare.  

Convinced that it is free to move, should it feel so inclined, we move on, not sure just where this walk, now unsigned and disappearing into the fog ahead, will ultimately take us.  Walls have now given way to a high and forbidding fence.

We eventually turn a corner and find a gate back into the main grounds.  But the fun is not over yet.  Twisting and turning and passing through even more gates we stumble across a curious building wrapped in plastic and canvas, with two Chinese dragons on the roof.  We carry on past and after another gate see a sign pointing back the way we’ve just come which tells us it’s the ‘Chinese House’ - so fragile that it needs to be protected from the winter.  A couple of skips and a hop and we emerge by the Palladium Bridge.  We know where we are now.

The combination of fog and frost meant we were spoilt for choice as far as blips were concerned - I’ve posted a couple in extras.  I’m happy to report that Anniemay’s feet were toasty dry.  And the wellies were clean because the muddy tracks were all frozen.  

In case you're wondering about the fate of the sheep, we alerted the staff in the visitors centre and they alerted the farmer, who looks after the livestock.  So everything will be alright.