Harlow Carr, Royal Horticultural Society Gardens

A day off walking today so we visited Harlow Carr and walked around some very pleasant gardens on a lovely day. This shot was taken in the "Gardens through Time" exhibit showing a typical garden of the '70s.

The world famous Betty's Tea Rooms have the monopoly for providing refreshments here as this garden in near their stronghold in Harrogate. Expensive but not that good is my verdict with miniscule scones and OK coffee with the bill for two of each over £11.

The bird hide was good, saw a bullfinch and at the outdoor tea house a tame robin and bluetit knew where all the crumbs were likely to be.

It was our turn to cook this evening so it was a bit of a rush to get back and get the dinner sorted. Never easy and not made any better by the lack of items such as casserole dishes and oven gloves. The main course turned out well - beef carbonade - which I blipped last Wednesday but the sponge on the rhubarb Eve's Pudding just would not set. In the end we had to cut and lift the middle of the sponge out and just use the cooked sponge around the edge. The pudding did taste good and many people had seconds.