Was lovely to see so many Oasisters join us at Pensthorpe nature reserve Friday 25th August, turned out to be a fun and interesting day shared with fabulous people.
The visit started at the café of course, time for teas, coffees and catch-up with some old friends and some new, including Billie, Rhian, Rachel, Andrea, Amy & Sue, Lauren, Lilly, Lorraine and myself Theresa.
Once refreshed we headed off through the entrance, paid and took a right turn into a caged area containing various water fowl, no idea what the birds were but was lovely to see and a taste of what was to come.
My priority of the day was to see the flamingos, this was our first destination accessible using the park map Wetland Walk. On the way towards the flamingos Lilly and Amy could not resist trying the tubular slide in the kiddie’s playground, not for me, well not while wearing a dress anyway.
The flamingos were there waiting for us to arrive, a fabulous noisy sight, not as pink as I thought they would be, they need a special diet to make them pink so I understand.
The birds and the ladies posed for the cameras, thank you Andrea for sharing some of your professional quality photos.
Next were the crane’s area, can’t be called an enclosure because there are no roofs, how come these special birds do not just fly away?
Further round the path we visited the Wetland Hide, watching the wild water fowl from this location was quite an experience to see and hear. The sight captivated us all, conversation ceased while we sat and absorbed the surroundings, for me I felt completely at peace and mentally cleansed. I can recommend if you have worries or troubles in life just go and sit in the Pensthorpe Wetland Hide for an hour, your problems will melt away, cheaper than therapy.
With hunger setting in we headed back to the café for lunch via the Millenium Garden and Glade Garden, all set out in keeping with a natural wildlife habitat. I expected to see the Glade Garden to be swarming with bees, there were none, just one or two butterflies, was still pretty to look at but just seemed not enough life.
Lunch menus appeared and we all ordered our favourites, everyone was happy with their meals, the Champion sausages seemed to be popular, I loved the addition of young pea shoots on top of my Brie and cranberry toastie. Was a very pleasant lunch sat outside in the courtyard, was not a warm as summer should be but at least the rain stayed away.
Once everyone had had their fill we set off for another walk, this time the Lake Walk, well should have been but a slight error with my map reading meant we ended up on the Wildflower Walk, the rough ground was rattling poor Lorraine’s bones on the mobility scooter so I had to take over the driving. Finding ourselves back on our intended walk via Dragonfly Bridge we had a quick peek in the Lake Hide before heading back to the café one last time with various ducks and geese being fed by the bird feed we purchased earlier in the day.
More teas, coffees, ahh just enough time for goodbyes.
Until the next time
Theresa x
oasis norfolk 