Birthday outing

My birthday today and we went to Leonardslee Gardens near Horsham in West Sussex. It's not a National Trust or English Heritage site but there was free admission for Royal Horticultural Society members so my wife got in free. It is a similar restoration story to the Heligan Gardens in Cornwall  - a large house and estate that had fallen into neglect and now being returned to its former glory. It is certainly an extensive site with hillside paths leading down to a chain of lakes. The house has become a hotel and houses a Michelin star restaurant although we satisfied ourselves just with the cafe, which provided a very tasty lunch. We followed a very interesting sculpture trail which included the three heads shown in the main photo entitled Stream of Consciousness each available at £22,700. Mmm, a bit pricey for a birthday present I  thought....Somewhat bizarrely, the gardens also have a wallaby enclosure and one of the extras shows one of the wallabies. She was carrying a joey in her pouch but its head is obscured by her paws. The other extra is a view across one of the lakes.There was also a stunning Doll's House exhibition which will feature in tomorrow's blip. There were magnolia bushes already in bloom and lots of daffodils and other spring flowers - we will definitely return when the days are warmer.