Visit to Old Thatch – 19th May 2012
This afternoon we paid our second visit to Old Thatch and Bourne End, the former home of Enid Blyton.
The previous time we had visited was in August 2009, when we’d had both Dad and Grandma with us. It made the return trip, on our own, to be tinged with some sadness.
Happy times in Summer 2009
Rebekah particularly remembered the previous visit as she had enjoyed eating some cake with her Great-Grandma.
Tea and cake
Old Thatch has a large and rambling garden which is ideal for young children to explore. It contains areas of formal planting as well as parts where nature has been allowed more freedom.
The girls began by studying plans of the garden before we walked around.
Holly and Rebekah
The first part of the garden is relatively formal, with box hedges separating out squares of planting.
Walking through the Formal Garden
The left side of the formal garden
Neatly clipped hedges and holly trees with Old Thatch behind
Around the corner of the house the gardens become more informal with long borders of cottage-garden flowers.
Walking in the cottage garden
Bluebells
Eventually, around another couple of bends, we reached the white bench at the bottom of the garden.
On the long bench
This section of the garden has more chairs in, as well as the Rose Walk.
Emily enjoying her first visit to the garden.
The Rose Walk
In another area of the garden is the fountain – something Emily was keen to try and explore!
Holly and Rebekah
Emily and Sarah beyond the fountain
The fountain with Old Thatch in the background
The gardens end, as all good gardens should do, with a tea shop selling freshly made slices of cake – they’re not the cheapest, but are worth every penny!
The girls with giant pencils
Afternoon tea and coffee cake
After enjoying our al fresco tea and cakes we began to walk back to the entrance of the garden, passing the Rose Walk on the way.
Looking down the other end of the Rose Walk
I’ve been reading some of the Enid Blyton books with Rebekah and Holly and we’ve recently been working through the Faraway Tree series. In the series, the trees in the Enchanted Wood are able to talk to each other with whispering voices that go Wisha Wisha Wisha. The children are able to listen to what they’re saying by putting their left ear to the tree. Needless to say, when we found a big tree, the girls wanted to try it out.
Holly listening
Rebekah
We spent about an hour at Old Thatch and hope to go back later in the year when the flowers will be more advanced. It’s well worth a visit.
I’ve in process of adding a few more photos from Old Thatch onto my new Photo Blog.
Holly outside Old Thatch
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