the royal landscape: the saville garden

These photos seem a world away now after the few weeks of bad weather we've had here - it fully feels like autumn here... I took these photos on one of my first outings a few weeks after healing up from my operation, my mum and I took a short walk around the lovely flowered gardens and a leisurely pace, and taking lunch in the cafe afterwards. Of course, I took a few snaps...

Since I last visited, they planted up a beautiful selection of wild-flowers, which had the most stunning cornflowers (which I've decided are one of my absolute favourite flowers, they grew like a weed all over the allotment and I used to pick them in copious amounts and bring them home to sit on the windowsill in little jam jars)... I've decided that if I ever were to have a garden of my own, I would plant only wildflowers as they attract a swarm of bees and their colour makes me so happy. 

They had quite a few of the late summer flowers in bloom when we went along - with a lot of hydrangea's (which could be a close contender for my favourite flower - particularly in this beautiful blue hue). The Saville Garden is part of the The Royal Landscape (which I've posted about many times) as it's a place filled with so many memories for me and  love spending time there - particularly of wandering around collecting fallen hydrangeas and rhododendrons as a child and bringing them home to press between books... 

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the snow day that never was

Last week (or the week before, time is running into one, apparently) I was off work, and had intended to go for an early morning run - however I opened my curtains and it was snowing. I hung about for a bit, but then the snow wasn't stopping, so decided to drag my mum out for a walk with my camera, instead. By the time we got to the lake, the snow had stopped and all but melted.
We walked around Virginia Water, up to the hill and the heather garden, then back around to the ruins of Leptis Magna, one of my favourite local ruins, haha. It was cold and brisk, and we made friends with a few puppies and some swans that tried to bite me, before having a cheeky hot dog and burger in the new cafe overlooking the water. It was really nice, but I miss how nice this place is in the spring and summer, I need some life in the trees and a bit more greenery about...

winter walks

The weekend we found out that my grandmother wasn't going to get any better, I dragged myself out for a brisk walk around the lake. Looking back now, it was probably the last good autumn day we had, right before the quick descent into frosty mornings, dark evenings and wet afternoons. 

I never thought I would be one of those people that looks forward to exercise. What I didn't know as a chubby thirteen-year-old is that just because I didn't enjoy rounders in my PE kit, meant that I would hate all exercise, ever; really, I just hadn't found the thing I did enjoy. After a sad weekend cooped up in a car and feeling useless about things, I just knew I needed to do something. 

Maybe it is something to do with my need for control, but I felt like things were more manageable after getting air in my lungs. Maybe it's that when everything feels out of my hands, I can go and do something that I have decided on. Maybe, it is just that the ache in my limbs means I sleep more soundly, but whatever it is, it works, and I'm okay with that. It's hard to drag myself to a gym, at 5pm after work on a Monday night when it's icy cold, wet and rainy, but I am so much happier when I've been and I need to keep telling myself that.