Picnic in Hylands Park

What a spectacular weekend of weather to end May 2020 which is now officially one of the driest May's on record. Keeping up with our outdoor exercise we made the most of the glorious weather by heading out for a picnic at Hylands House in Chelmsford (whilst maintaining social distancing). For me Hylands House brings back memories on the inaugural Chelmsford marathon which I ran a few years back (and got my best ever marathon time!). However today we got to really explore the grounds, the gardens and the serpentine lake as the children's area was still closed off due to Covid-19.

We had a lovely picnic on the lawn right in front of Hylands House, discovered the flint cottage, played some garden bowls and even a spot of badminton. Brandon is really showing how his fitness has fallen off since the lock down started as he was complaining of having very tired legs just walking around for a few hours (I suppose the heat didn't help). We couldn't walk quickly as Joshua was still hobbling around after his fall on the bike at Hadleigh yesterday.

The beautiful Hylands House.

Some lovely flowers in the house gardens.

Holly exploring the gardens.

These hedges are cut to look like large bowling pins!

A canopy of beautiful flowers.

Holly wanted me to take a picture of the lilly's in the pond.

Holly enjoyed scooting around the grounds but was often going off a bit too far as we hobbled around with Josh.

Holly by a sun dial and the 75th VE Day plaque.

Another request from Holly for me to take a picture of this caterpillar.

Love the way Holly is looking up to Brandon in this picture.

The flint house that used to be home to the servants of Hylands House.

Brandon exploring the flint house.

A stunning view of Hylands House with beautiful blue skies.

What better place to settle down for a family picnic.

And then a bit of lawn bowls in front of the house.

Holly takes her shot at the jack.

After our picnic we found the serpentine lake where the kids wanted to dip their feet in the water to cool off.

Brandon and Holly soon followed Josh.

And then they were met in the water by a family of ducks.