Marvellous Thursley

Mirinda is hoping to attract a few pixies onto the terrace. Personally, I think this is quite dangerous, knowing how mischievous they are, but Mirinda insists that if we supply them with their own little garden complete with furniture, they’ll be kind. I’ve never heard of a ‘kind’ pixie but I guess you never know.

Enticing pixies

My morning was spent in the garden. I planted the box balls we bought yesterday while Mirinda Skyped. We stopped for lunch then went for a drive to Thursley via Homebase (for a water timer) and Pets a Home for a comb (for Emma). It was another beautiful day and Thursley looked stunning.

Entering Thursley

The gorse was well out, giving the air a potent saturation of coconut scent. It reminds me of those long ago days in Australia when it was considered de rigeur to smoother your body in coconut oil prior to lying in the sun turning yourself into bacon…but without the bacon. Now, that would be weird. If there’s a plant that smells of frying bacon, it surely wouldn’t grow next to one that smells of coconut. Would it?

Sliced pig aside, the gorse looked lovely, encroaching on the boardwalk as we made our way out into the reserve.

On the boardwalk

Mirinda says that Thursley gives her a feeling of wide open spaces. The flatness of the nature reserve, extends out on all sides, ending in far distance tree lines. And today, we walked to the far distant tree line.

It’s been quite difficult walking around the reserve because of the mud along the border tracks but someone (presumably the RSPB or perhaps the MOD) has laid out tons of sand, creating a wide expanse of mud-free track. We walked and walked, not having to dodge big black puddles.

We saw a few horses and bike riders and then, a huge group of beagle owners (with one Scottie dog). It was like a fox hunting pack except they were mostly on leads and being (almost) controlled by many owners rather than a Master of the Hunt. Actually, we meet the Master of the Beagle Walk. He claimed that beagle owners are very annoying. He had been roped in to leading the walk at the last minute and, clearly was not happy about it.

Speaking of dogs…Day-z and Emma had a lovely walk as well. Emma didn’t really stop running, looking cheeky with it. Day-z, of course, walked sedately next to us the whole way.

Cheeky Emma

No roast this week due to the tasteless Chinese last night. We had shepherd’s pie instead.