Nice day at Horniman Park

What a lovely day we woke up to this morning. The sun is shining, the sky is blue and it promises to be a normal summer’s day.

A bacon and egg brekky has become something of a tradition for a lazy Sunday, cooked by The Man Now what more could I ask for. So after a nice leisurely feast we though to ourselves it is much too nice a day to stay in so where shall we go?

The gardens of the Horniman Museum were closed last time we visited and they are a just a short bus ride away. We strolled along our road checking out the market type stalls that have set up there. Pretty trinkets glittered in the sun while old books curled up their covers all looked over by a very tall pile of suitcases balancing itself precariously.  Highly priced old furniture, shabby carpets, faded tins and tatty cigarette card albums all looking for new owners. We kept our money firmly in our pockets

We joined the others at the bus stop. Mum’s with kids in tow, afro-caribbean women dressed up to the nines, bibles in hand on their way to church. The man and I got off at Horniman Park and wandered through the children’s playgrounds up to the gardens.

Part of it is a very nicely laid out edible garden. Rows of beans and peas and broccoli and carrots. It reminded us of the very large vegie garden that we used to have. Much to one of the grandsons delight he would take carrots to Kindy for ‘All Black’ the bunny. I can see him in my mind’s eye putting all his strength into pulling out the red veg and him giggling with pleasure as it emerged suddenly from the ground.

Around the edge of the edible garden well labelled medicinal plants grew, corralled by low espaliered apple trees. I really like the idea of espalier, something I will try when we finally get back to NZ.

The beds of miniature of dahlias were just breaking into flower, in a couple of weeks it will be a mass of colour. I’ve never been a fan of dahlias. We had them in the garden when I was a kid and they always seemed to be full of earwigs.

It was good to see that he park was so well used by lots of family groups and other couples like us. Shaded spots under trees hosted many picnics, but we chose to have stop and have our snack at one of the seats overlooking the edible garden.  

Before we made our way home we had a nice walk through the shady wood signposted as a nature trail. Dappled sunlight made it pleasantly cool on a very warm day.