What a weekend!

I have had a very stressful couple of weeks, both at home and at work, and missed my monthly get together with the girls for scrapbooking. So the outing we had planned for Saturday was well and truly needed!

Wendy had been on Visit Essex and found Bourne Mill for us to go and visit. So with our packed lunches, raincoats and cameras, off we set!

What a beautiful place! It is in the middle of Colchester, but at the same time in a very rural location! We spent about an hour here, walking the grounds, looking at the mill workings and having a cup of tea.

We were lucky and the threatening rain held off. Jules, the guide, was very chatty and informative and we learned a lot about the mill whilst we were there.

We decided to move on and have our picnic lunch at Marks Hall Gardens and Arboretum. There was a lovely outside picnic area and with our coats on and the sun out it was lovely to have our first picnic of 2015. We all meant to take photos whilst we ate, but were too hungry and forgot!

After eating our lunch we set off on our stroll around the grounds.

It was beautiful. The sun came out and there was such beautiful blossom on the trees. It smelt heavenly.

 The sun reflecting off the water was stunning - I nearly captured it here!

This is a place I will definitely be going back to - I have promised Hugh and Penny we will go there soon for a walk.

This is the 'Screaming Oak' - can you see the face? No? Well here it is in close up.

I took 85 photos in total, but have got rid of some that weren't quite so good! As my Mum posted on my Facebook page:
Gillian Armstrong: Lovely pics, I can see plenty of scrapping material there!

We've got another day booked for June - Beth Chatto Gardens - and I am really looking forward to that!