Girl with rose

Yesterday I struggled to find just one photo I was happy to post; today I’m spoilt for choice. Such is the feast or famine world of blipping - and as today took us to Bodnant, it was the most beautifully extravagant of banquets.

Since starting Blip, amazingly I’ve only visited the gardens once. Of course for three months they were closed, and when we made our first post-lockdown visit, it seemed so busy we did not return .... until today that is. 

Right now the star attraction is the Laburnum Arch, so popular that there is actually a queuing system operating. It’s as glorious as ever, and I have included a side view of it in one of my extras - with some Campanella strewn steps. 

But of course, there’s far more to see than this, borders bursting with early summer scent and colour and beauty everywhere you look - again some collage extras of just a tiny sample of the gorgeous blooms.

I’ve forgotten that there would be damselflies aplenty on the ponds, and really don’t have a lens to do them justice, but I love them resting on the water lilies so include these in another ‘extra’ collage. 

But for my main, I decide to use a portrait of a little girl amongst the roses. We’ve been bumping into her and her sister since the arch. They may be twins, they’re certainly dressed identically, but whilst she has a studious knowing stillness, her sister has that restless self-conscious wriggle, that means their mother finds it nigh impossible to photograph them together. 

It’s been a glorious day of sunshine, beauty, reunions and new friendships as we meet up with my childhood friend, her partner and his youngest son, and two friends who have joined them for their North Wales sojourn. We hug - and isn’t that the best feeling - chat, laugh, enjoy Bodnant’s beauty and lunch together in a bunting-decked gazebo. Wonderful.