Animal Dramatics.

I love it when a last-minute plan comes together. Being the (only slightly) meticulous planner and get-up-and-goer than I am, when I suggested last minute on Saturday morning that Moon should ask his mum to visit for the day and it worked, I was pretty excited. We already had his brother and his brother's girlfriend staying with us so it was just like a family day out.




I had already planned on having a picnic at some point last weekend anyway - it's just a nice way to have lunch, don't you agree? - so we only needed to pick up a couple of extra things before popping in to Reading to pick up Moon's mum from the train station and heading on over to Beale Park for the afternoon.

Thanks to the mammoth amount of guests we brought to Beale Park for our first visit we weren't short of half-price vouchers and were able to get in for just £5 each. Seriously at that price Beale Park is more than worth it and it was so great to visit on a warm day when were able to explore the gardens a bit too.




♥




Not that I mind at all, but this is definitely one of those pictures that makes me realise how short I am.







Hannibal-esque.


:)




Whadda face.







Moonpigs.











Baby kune kune pigs (!!!)








[more]

I guess this is a bit of a photo-dump but I'm pretty pleased with most of the pictures I took, both of the animals and flowers and the lovely people I got to spend the day with.

Late-August Public Garden.

After spending the last few hours we had in Northern Ireland wandering around a rather drizzly but sweaty Belfast Botanic Gardens, I'm still going to come away from it saying that every park ever should be like this one.

It's filled with windy trails and secret-garden-type corners and it's so well maintained and full of beautiful flowers. On top of all of that, it's got a palm house, essentially a large green house but it's full to the brim with both exotic and local plants, which are again really well looked after.






It was sunny for about five minutes the whole time we were in Belfast until just before we left for the airport, the only real rain we had the whole week(!)





I nerded out a little over the succulents, and felt a little sad that mine are so teeny in comparison, I could do great things if I had my own palm house...


I sure wish we'd planted some of these again this year, will definitely suggest if we're still here next summer, I love the different pops of colour they bring.




I love statues!





Even if it was a bit wet, it was something I wasn't quite expecting or planning but I'm glad we saw it. I was pretty amazed that they allow the public to use the space for free, it made me feel pretty privileged to have found such a gem when I wasn't looking.