Comic Beasts

We had to wait in for the plumber today to do some work in Mum's shower room, and then had to pick up her laptop which was being repaired. So with little time to go anywhere we headed to Hall Place, a " stunning Tudor house with magnificent gardens sitting on the banks of the River Cray in Bexley", as their website puts it.

My Nan lived a few minutes walk away, so this was a frequent haunt when we were kids.  I have fond memories of the river (which I tended to fall in), and gardens with its topiary figures. These depict the Queen's Beasts, a set of 10 heraldic figures representing the genealogy of Elizabeth II.  They were planted in 1953 and as a child some 15 or 20 years later I recollect a set of elegant bushes.  Today they have a rather more "Ninja Turtle" comic look, so more fitting for the Silly Saturday Challenge!