Apple day at Crook Hall

No more than a token walk today: I wanted to visit Crook Hall for their annual 'apple and pear day', combining a visit to the gardens with a chance to pick some fruit. But at least we could walk there, and not necessarily by the most direct route...

So we climbed up through Wharton Park, with its views over the city, and down the other side to skirt the grounds of County Hall, passing the DLI museum and then following the edge of the steep wooded valley to the edge of the Newton Hall estate. Here we crossed the railway and turned back towards the city, with a fine view of the cathedral in front of us. A cross-field path turned into a surprisingly broad and solid track through the woods, past some run-down industrial units, and deposited us at the gate of Crook Hall.

If I'd gone to Crook Hall in the hope of scoring large quantities of rare and historic apples, I'd have been disappointed; still more so if I'd been hoping for pears, as the pear tree was looking very poorly, and bore no fruit at all this year. But it's a lovely old house, and the garden is charming, a cottage garden on a grand scale, a mass of flowers which seem to be planted artlessly and left to grow where they will, and yet somehow manage to form interesting groupings. I was surprised at how colourful it still was, so late in the year, and had a great time taking photographs - including more pictures of hydrangeas than seems quite reasonable.

Looking at the apples we brought home as a bonus, an addition to a visit for its own sake, I'm well satisfied - and we also snagged a quince (strictly, one medium sized quince and two tiny ones, but I'm not sure the tiny ones count).

And completed our walk through the less-visited (by us) parts of the city by returning home up Sidegate and through the new houses at Highgate.