A black panther at Hampton Court

We had our twin grandchildren staying  overnight and this morning we took them to the ‘ Magic Garden’ at Hampton Court. The Magic Garden is basically a childrens playground with some mythical beasts eg a big dragon. There is also sand and water but we did not go in that today. We got there when it opened at 10am and for the first half hour it was quite quiet. The corner with the panther was also quite quiet and cool with shade. They had not been there for about a year so were excited to visit again and were much more confident climbing up and coming down the big slides, plus the fireman’s pole etc.  As usual some parents were paying no attention to what their children were doing and some of the older ones …8/9 years olds were tearing around and pushing the younger ones out of the way…I had to do my teacher voice  a few times and tell them to take their turn! They now have timed wrist bands for 90 minutes but we actually left after an hour. The kitchen garden there is now well cultivated again ( for the last two years because of the pandemic I think they lots a lot of volunteer gardeners and it was quite neglected) .they had a big patch of nice sunflowers growing alongside sweetcorn. They also had lots of good carrots growing so I was able to show the grandchildren the tops of the carrots in the ground.

Further to my Duplo sorting yesterday our grandson says he wants to keep some of it, not keen for it to go yet! The granddaughter does not mind!

When we got home we took Libby for a brief walk…I went a slightly different route and she went into the Kings River which comes from Bushy Park and goes into the Thames very near where we live. She has never done this before and because the water level is so much lower than usual she got into black smelly mud. So a bath was needed when she got home, I had to change the water three times before it became clear. She will have to have the lead on if we go that way again!

So humid again today that it makes you feel very lethargic. Rain forecast overnight but we shall see!