Both Pete and I have a great fondness for birds of prey, so when we saw there was a falconry display on today at Burnby Hall Gardens, in Pocklington, we decided to visit; it’s a pleasant drive of about 25 miles from here.
It’s a really nice place – two ponds chock full of water lilles (although they’re not out yet) and some of the fattest koi carp I’ve ever seen, together with an occasional duck. The place was packed out with families, and yet had a really nice tranquil feel to it; lots of people had chairs, blankets, picnics, the Sunday papers etc, and were clearly set in for the long haul. We’ll be visiting again, I think.
The falconry display wasn’t great – it’s just too hot for the birds to want to work, and the gyr falcon really didn’t want to play and kept flying away – and who could blame him? Still, an enjoyable afternoon sitting in the (too hot) sun – we took a small picnic, and indulged ourselves in an ice cream too – I couldn’t decide on flavours, and so was Bad, and had a double of ginger and cherry; delicious.
Tonight there will be feta stuffed chicken breast, Yorkshire asparagus and Jersey Royals, although I’m dreading actually cooking, as it is Far Too Hot.
Yesterday afternoon was spent in the Zacharia Pearson pub with a subset of Hull twitterers for the #hullmeetup, and most enjoyable it was too. We may have made some business contacts as well. However, too much wine (in my case) and beer (in Pete’s) was consumed.