Winter Garden

We awoke to our first cold and frosty morning of the winter. 
Later,  we went to a "drop -in " meeting arranged by our local councillors to provide  information  about a proposal by property developers to build a "knowledge park", hotel , student accommodation, car park for 1000 vehicles etc,  on a disused army camp nearby. Most of us attending wanted to know how we can best object to the proposals, which have grown in scale tremendously since the developers held a series of consultation meetings a few months ago.Their proposals now go  well beyond the development needs stated in the latest  Local Plan. 
The meeting was well attended, and hopefully many people will make their opposition to the scheme known, once we have found our way around the  City Council's  online "Planning Portal". 
After lunch, we visited Hillier's Gardens for a walk in the sunshine.
My blip was taken  in the Winter Garden and features the  dramatic red stemmed Cornus  alba "Westonbirt".