Lulworth Castle and Kingston Lacy

Where to today?  Given the forecast was for heavy rain, I chose venues where there was some indoor interest - and started off at Lulworth Castle.

The Castle foundations were laid in 1588 and building completed in 1609. The Castle was gutted by fire in August 1929.  Although there is a modern steel stairway leading to the top of the hunting lodge.. all the floors having been destroyed, you can get an impression of what it was like originally

and down into the basement where the fire didn't reach. so more remains to this day

St Andrews Church, 15th Century

and now onto Kingston Lacy... for lunch initially!!  Tasty scone which Elwyn and Frank enjoyed.
Kingston Lacy has many happy and poignant memories for me... it was somewhere Mum  & I often used to stop en route to our holidays in Devon..  First time I've been back since she left us in 2015...

This Nuthatch was feeding young, high up in a tree

Snakes Head Fritillary - quite a few of these about in the gardens.

The sky got lighter!!

The Parterre is being completely restored... be good to see it when established!!

En route today I saw my first House Martin of the season!
And that was the day... as I got back to where I'm staying, the sun came out for a few minutes...

and tomorrow.. the forecast says... 'NO RAIN'