So I’m finally back in lovely green Dorset and it feels just so good to be home.  Sometimes you don’t realise how much you love where you live until you go somewhere else.  We did have a nice time and there were some really great highlights to the trip.

The Eden Project is pretty amazing, particularly if you love plants.  The biomes are very impressive and certainly make you feel as if you were in the mediterranean or rainforest.  Thankfully we went at a time when it wasn’t too busy but I can imagine it positively heaves with people in the summer.

The Trebah gardens is nestled in a valley at the mouth of the Helford estuary.  It was beautiful this time of year with all of the camillias out.  A really nice peaceful place with a fantastic little cafe to boot.  One of my favourite spots was the bamboo area.

There are so many different varieties, and walking through them reminds me of walking through the mountain temples around Kyoto last spring.  But even that wasn’t my favourite part of the trip.

This is the start of the National Trust’s Penrose Estate near Helston.  We had spent a frustrating day driving around the Lizard peninsula only to find everywhere covered in fog.  Talk about a disappointment, about five miles inland it was a clear beautiful day.  Just before we went home I suggested we stop here for a little walk.  It started out with beautiful woodland full of bluebells.  

Then you start walking around Loe Pool, a tranquil lake with areas of marsh and reed beds full of wildlife.

Until, slightly exhausted, you reach the sea at Loe Bar.  Made up of shingle and sand it was a dramatic change from the woodland that we walked through, and there were lots of little plants growing right on the sand.  Dandelions and daisies toward the lakeside and sea beets and kale towards the sea.  The fog had lifted and we were finally able to see the fantastic view out to sea, I couldn’t believe how secluded and quiet it was, a real gem.

It was nice to see family again and the weather was fair pretty much the whole week.  I did get a little bit of knitting done but I did get distracted by views like this.

Stay tuned for tomorrow when I talk about knitting and make a big (very big) announcement.