Our own stately home

A beautiful cooked breakfast set us up for another day of recording quadrats in the Herefordshire countryside. The first hour was wonderful, but the temperature rapidly rose and by midday the heat was becoming unbearable. Once we'd finished our allotted set of fields we headed back to the farm for water and a cup of tea. I was offered a sandwich - fresh wholemeal bread slathered with butter and slices of ham cut off the bone - simple food but so delicious.

It was hard to force ourselves back into the fields, but we still had some work to do. We eventually finished about 2.30, but rather than heading straight home, we decided to take a four-hour holiday. With no real plans, we turned off at the first sign indicating a garden and tearoom. This led us to Kentchurch Court, a hidden gem of a place.

The tearoom was beautifully decorated but completely unmanned (see extra). There was a kettle, tea and coffee available - you made your own hot drink and then washed up afterwards. There were also four delicious cakes available, not to mention biscuits and ice creams - again you helped yourself (whatever size slice you wanted!). Money for the teas and entrance to the garden just went into an honesty box.

After our refreshments we spent a couple of hours wandering round the beautiful gardens, which had a mix of very relaxed plantings and more formal areas. And the best part of it was, we were the only people there. It was like having our very own stately home!  We came home with lots of ideas for plantings, and I was delighted to see a spotted flycatcher, the first for many years, as they are now very rare in eastern England.