It's miserable outside again today, so instead of moaning that I can't get out for a walk, I'll play catch-up with one of my city tramps to the Clingendael Estate that I took a couple of weeks ago, and pretend I'm out there enjoying the sun, instead of stuck indoors watching the rain snake down my window-panes.
It's a really good walk to get the the estate, around fifty minutes, give-or-take, and my first photo was on the way, at Plein 1813, where there are thirty-six commemorative horse chestnut trees (according to the plaques), the oldest of which were planted in 1925. They're a sight to behold in every season, although you do have to watch your head when passing underneath in Autumn!
The first sight that greets you when you enter the park is a wonderful old thatched house, privately owned, but probably one of the most photographed private houses in the city! I love the clarity of Winter that allows it to be seen without the shadows of Summer, but you already know how much I love the look of stark woodland and bright skies...
Instead of heading up to the main house on the estate and wandering around the Old Dutch Garden as is my wont, I headed east into part of Oosterbeek Park, and Duinbos, criss-crossed with waterways.
Scenes of such serenity seemed hardly the place to stumble upon an old Nazi bunker, but there it was, ramshakle and slowly being overpowered by nature, a concrete reminder of a terrible past.
I ended up circling back through the forest (mmm - trees and sky) to the Hollandse Tuin, to find the Heron Lady hand-feeding her faithful followers. I've seen her a lot around this time of day, and the herons are always glad to see her and her bag of bread.
After both the bread and herons were gone, I wandered over the bridge in the direction of the Clingendael Institute building, and found another heron sulking on a fallen tree,
stopped to admire some more forest reflections, and enjoyed the sight of a just-beginning-to-bud magnolia tree, before heading home and checking my pedometer... Over fifteen-thousand steps must surely equal a brownie...?
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