I'm not a Deer!

Today I made a welcome re-visit to Leonardslee Lakes and Gardens after it closed to the public in 2010 when it was sold to a private buyer. The gardens were then renown for their collection of Victorian motor cars, a 1/12th scale miniatures exhibition and Wallabies. I seem to also recall a cactus house. The estate was acquired in 2017 by a South African based hospitality group and re-opened in 2019. I had meant to arrange a visit, but life and Covid got in the way. So today was the day to rectify this.

Much has changed to the good, but I was delighted to find the dolls' house exhibition was still there, as well as the wallabies in a nice new enclosure.  The cars and cactus have gone, but the garden now includes a sculpture park and there was also a temporary trail of works by local sculptors.

During the time the estate was closed some of the wallabies escaped and settled down happily in the deer park where they bred. Even today, some of the captive wallabies, mainly young bucks, are released into the park where they are effective natural lawn-mowers!  I spotted this one as I walked through the park ... I didn't see one deer.