Burdock

The traffic queues on the A720 were awful so we changed plans for our shopping/walk and headed for Lidl in Dalkeith, intending to visit Dalkeith Park afterwards.

However, finding ourselves in the wrong lane, we headed west, pootled around a bit and ended up at Whitehill House in Rosewell.

 It's a while since we last were there so varied our approach, cutting off left at the golf club entrance and wandering through woodland, clearly shared with horses and off-road cyclists, joining the main approach near the clubhouse.

I hadn't taken the camera and most of the flower photos on the phone were our of focus but this burdock survived. This is the plant whose seed heads are covered with hooks and freely attach themselves to anything that passes, becoming the inspiration for Swiss engineer George de Mestral to invent the useful fastening substitute for buttons, poppers, shoelaces and buckles, commercially known as Velcro.

Thanks to BikerBear for hosting Flower Friday.

We retraced our steps from the previous visit, making the discovery of a small cemetery that served the house when occupied by St Joseph's, noting the frequency of child deaths among the gravestones. The view of the rear of the house, the newly broken windows, the scaffolding still in place but clearly work is underway, restoration is just taking a very long time. One day this will be a collection of stunning residences with enormous rooms.

By then our stomachs were telling us that it was high time we were homeward bound so returned home cross-country without a single queue, for a very late lunch.