Speckled Wood

We have been pretty busy at home this weekend.

But  we did take time out to visit two nearby gardens open this afternoon under the National Garden Scheme. I usually buy the "yellow book" each year, but time constraints mean that we don't manage more than three or four a year. We should try and manage more this year if we can.

And so to "The Old Parsonage" at Arley Green, and then to Statham Avenue at Lymm. Both were well worth the visit.

The garden at Statham Avenue was wonderful. Before leaving we got into conversation with the owner (and gardener). He asked us if we knew what charities the NGS supports - I could recall the Macmillan Nurses, but not the others. He pointed us to a poster on the inside of the conservatory which listed the various charities., so we had a look. It took me a little time to clock the fact that the speckled wood butterfly was real (I had to look it up, it's a female). It has alighted next to a cartoon version of a butterfly on the poster, which I quite liked. 

Extra - a rose and a clematis, which would have been my blip but for the butterfly.