Painshill

Last week, a visit to Painshill, seemingly the first since November 2018. The people at reference 2, the people who are proud not to have fallen into the clutches of the National Trust.

Unusual ticketing arrangements in that, instead of waving a piece of paper containing a bar code or a QR code, one quotes a booking reference number which is ticked off in a ledger.

There was a sign suggestive of the presence of garden art, in the way of Wisley, but luckily we did not come across the art itself - usually, to my mind, neither any good nor suitable to the place. We go to places like this for the gardens, not for an ego-display from somebody from the University of Creation. Or worse still, a statement about something or other. Although to be fair, while I do not like much of this stuff, some of it at least requires significant skill in working with the materials involved.

Sensible arrangements in place for the cafeteria. Standard of social distancing mixed. But off the main paths and away from the entrance, no problem.

A sweet chestnut, trying to start over

Lots of interesting trees. Oak, sweet chestnut, birch, Scots pine, cedar amongst others. Including a giant cedar of Lebanon. A champion tree of Surrey, or something of the sort.

Vines

Lots of leaves down along the rows of vines (above the main stretch of the lake), which we thought rain damage. But then we found out from somewhere that one cuts the leaves away from the ripening grapes to let the sun get at them. Which sounds plausible but labour intensive.

BH inspecting the famous grotto

Picnic on a quiet bit of grass overlooking the water. Water fowl mainly ducks and coots, but one grebe. Some grazing on the duckweed - so the stuff is good for more than irritating suburban pond owners.

A pair of coastal redwoods

A pair of young coastal redwoods, very properly overlooking the water. A spot near where we once saw a pair of pike, maybe a yard long, hanging in the water, waiting for some action. While on this occasion we came across a pair of carp fishermen trying to weigh in a large carp that they had caught. Maybe two feet long. Didn't much care for messing around with a large animal in this way, just for sport.

More ducks grazing on the duckweed

Wellingtonia to the right of the foreground Scots pine

On exit, we came across a Wellingtonia behind a wall. But I could neither get a clear shot of it, or touch it, so not scorable. There were quite a few more of them round about, but non scored on this occasion. Clearly a matter for a return visit.

Passed up on the giant Waitrose off-license at Cobham.

Came across another Wellingtonia as we approached our own road, somewhere behind the Cricketers on Stamford Green Pond, possibly Parklawn Avenue. But we failed to get near enough to score it. Something else to be visited on another occasion.

PS: a good place, good for viral times. Maybe subscribe to these people, rather than English Heritage in the year to come, our not having had very good value out of these last for the last couple of years. Osborne on the Isle of Wight, and that is about it, and not even that this year.

Reference 1: https://psmv3.blogspot.com/2018/11/painshill.html.

Reference 2: https://www.painshill.co.uk/.