What a difference a day makes

After the very high stormy winds of yesterday, the sea was very calm this morning. Visibility was much better and the cliffs on the other side of the bay could be clearly identified. The sunshine had returned but there is still a very cold wind.

We left Lyme Regis after our four night break and have arrived in Burley in the New Forest for our last night away.

En route we visited Kingston Maurward Gardens and Animal Park. The gardens are laid out in various "rooms" and have beautiful flowers, trees and shrubs. There is a sunken Japanese garden and a large walled demonstration garden planted by the horticultural students whose college is in the 18th century mansion house. Everything seems to be nutured by organic principles and it was encouraging to see the profusion of weeds - we aren't the only ones to have such an abundance of "wild flowers".

The animals were mainly small farm ones. There was a large range of different chicken breeds and we were imterested to see the female Muscovy duck with her six ducklings. I have not seen Muscovy babies before and they were adorable splashing about in their little pond with mum demonstrating what to do.

The "animal park " was well organised and very child friendly. All the animals looked well cared for with plenty of outdoor space.

We arrived in Burley late afternoon . The horses meandering along the middle of the road had priority over our car.

Tomorrow i am hoping to see the domestic pigs that have been released into the forest to forage and clear away the fallen nuts and seeds that could be detrimental to the grazing ponies. This is an annual event, that took place last week.