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Gosford again

I think the weather forecasters would describe today's weather as having spits and spots of rain.  That is how it has been all day, mixed in with a chilly wind and a constantly overcast sky.  Not much of a May day.  My future son-in-law commented this evening that it had been warmer in February, and indeed it had!

A walk around the grounds of Gosford House this afternoon offered some protection from the horrid weather.  As always, there were lots of new things to discover!
On stone pillars, either side of the entrance to the mausoleum enclosure there are these two figures.  Statues of Slaves with Flaying Knives, copied from the Flayer of Marsyas, Uffizzi, in Florence.
 Statue one
 Statue one
 Statue two
I think the stove carvings shown above, and below, are over the entrance to the stables.  It was a private area of the grounds so I couldn't get a good look, nor can I find any mention of them in written information on Gosford House.   I think the chap below must be the Greek god, Pan.  His pipes are there, and his goat horns!
The walk alongside the lake revealed newly unfurled waterlily pads, the starry flowers of bogbean, beautiful reflections of an overhanging copper beech tree, and lots of cowslips.  This is my year of the cowslip.  I have seen masses of them in recent weeks.  Good to be able to report on a wild flower in abundance.
Walking through the grounds on the far edge of the woods, I came across a huge patch of wild lily of the valley, a small part of which is pictured below.  That, combined with a brief burst from a cuckoo heard early this morning, has resulted in rather a good day!





Comments

  1. Sally10 May 2019 at 11:41

    Beautiful! I love the cowslips. Another one of mum's favourites.
    xx

    ReplyDelete

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