Glorious mud?

Returning from a strenuous hike up the hill in Benmore Gardens, we suddenly smelled ... wet earth. We didn't recognise it immediately - we could hear a diesel engine puttering away and thought they were cutting down a tree, or foliage, or whatever. But then we rounded a corner and realised why the ornamental pond, subject of so many of my blips, had been cordoned off last visit as though it were a murder scene.

Today they had almost finished draining the pond, carefully, down a pipe that leads to a small stream that then runs under the giant redwood walk to the river - carefully, as too much flow would flood the grass under the trees. The mud lay in thick banks on the bottom and round the sides - mud that may well end up composting another part of the garden. The smell was rich and fruity and not at all unpleasant.

Shortly after that the sun, which had been growing paler as we walked, vanished altogether, and by the time we reached the car the rain had returned. Good walk, though - glad I abandoned things domestic when I did!