Just Loving Autumn #3 - Trentham Gardens, The Lake, Stoke-on-Trent

Hi there everyone

There really is nothing better on a crisp 🍁Autumnal🍁 day than managing to pull in a bit of outdoors time and after meaning to visit, for what seems like forever, we finally managed to find our way to Trentham Gardens for the day. Seriously, I can not understand why we have never visited before.

It's about an hour away from us, so definitely within distance for a day out and from the minute we entered we were like kids in a sweet shop. We were just so excited, there was just so much to see that we didn't quite know where to start.

I will warn you now that this post is very photo heavy. I took absolutely loads of pictures and I promise I have tried really hard to be selective in those that I've included, but there were just so many amazing things to see that I got a bit carried away.

As soon as we entered the gardens we just didn't know where to look. There was so much going on in all directions. Literally above our heads was the first of the fairy sculptures that we were really looking forward to seeing ... 

... off to the left there was the lake, alive with all manner of ducks and birds, looking hazy in the 🍁Autumn🍁 sunshine...

... and to the right, yellow grasses, interspersed with winding footpaths, as far as the eye could see.

There was only one thing for it ... Tea room for breakfast where a plan of action could be decided upon.

In the short walk from the entrance to the tea room we couldn't help but stop to take pictures of this hare sculpture, which was nestled in the grasses ...

... this cheeky little frog ...

... the lake and these bird sculptures ...

... another amazing fairy sculpture ...

... and these snowdrop sculptures ...

Fuelled with Staffordshire oatcakes for me and a bacon ciabatta for Martin we decided to start our visit by walking round the lake.

The lake is a mile long with a well defined footpath and takes in the rest of the fairy sculptures and a number of other sculptures currently on display.

Being absolute lovers of all kinds of outdoor sculpture we spent plenty of time stopping along the way to photograph pretty much everything, starting with these amazing carved pumpkins ...

Then there were the dandelion clocks, which were just beautiful ...

... one of which was home to another ethereal creature ...

The path wound through the woodland, alongside the lake, with plenty of signs of 🍁Autumn🍁 to be seen ...

We somehow managed to miss the next two fairy sculptures 😞but we did see these mushrooms, which really blended in well with the 🍁Autumn🍁landscape ...

... and these deer, which were just beautiful. They were so realistic ...

There was an enormous carved scarab beetle, which was a little freaky, but fascinating all the same ...

We did manage to find the last fairy sculpture on this side of the lake. She was sitting on a log, in a stream, just taking in the 🍁Autumn🍁 sunshine. Personally I think she might be washing her hair ...

We were now at the far end of the lake and it was time to begin our walk back. There is another cafe here if you fancy a breather, but we were saving ourselves for lunch, so did not avail of the facility.

There was just as much of interest on the walk back along the other side of the lake.

More fairies, which we loved, they were just enthralling ...

... and plenty more sculpture ...

There was also still a surprising amount of colour, considering the time of year ...

So, we'd finished our circuit of the lake ... time to explore the more formal Italian garden, but I think I will save that for another post ...