Priory Farm - Discovery Walk - Review

So a couple of weekends ago (Sunday before last, actually...oh, and more on Mexico later, still churning through the photos) we decided to *finally* go and try out the nature trail (or "Discovery Walk" as the owners would have it) as we had spotted (excitingly) that the local kids (independently) and also those formed into groups (schools/cubs/brownies etc) were participating in a "Scarecrow competition" (which had made the local paper), so we thought we'd pop up and take a look (as it's only about 5 minutes from home) - now, in order to "walk the walk" one must first go and pay a small sum in the garden centre (which should entitle one to a free sticker - check - and a free pencil - not check), and thus equipped (or not) one is permitted to open the gate and begin their journey -

- initially past a jolly looking fellow warning us to stay on the path as all the fields are now planted up with summer flowers ready to spring into bloom in the next few weeks -

- and then past the first array of scarecrows -

- some of which had a more plausible age/presentation ratio than others -


- hmmm, a rather talented 5 year old then ;) -

- that done the "Farmers Family" scarecrows welcomed us to the walk proper, starting with a quite steep uphill trek past many signs telling us of all the (presently) invisible wildlife (apparently all sorts of things are common early in the morning) past some interesting fossils (wha...no pic??? What was I *doing*?) -

- as we climbed higher so a stunning view presented itself of "Nutfield Priory" (where we spent our wedding night, we could even spot the windows of our room) -

- past an artificial (but convincing) foxglove glade where a visible, but not live deer watched us as we passed -

- next it was up to the observation point -


- where you could get a good look back out over the farm -

- however most of the other things being pointed out were hidden by dense foliage (it wasn't even possible to see down into Redhill aerodrome, which is almost next door, albeit at the foot of a large hill) -

- anyway, we walked back down the hill (making a large circle) past the lush spring greenery and into the neatly trimmed plum orchard -

- where fruit was already busy in the process of swelling -

- then approaching the lake, where the school/club type scarecrow offerings were lurking -

- including the (and I'm not sure what this says about groups like the brownies and the cub scouts) extremely scary St George -

- and equally terrifying Scotsman complete with bottle of whiskey (in plastic bag) -

- and last, but not least, to the lake, where (*shock*) we caught our first glimpse of animal life -

- being an elderly duck...although the lake was actually quite beautiful, surrounded by reeds and what looked like yellow orchids -


- and then upon our exit, a second animated life-form, some (what looked like) Moorhens, who ran away with us as fast as they could manage (in-between all their fussing) -

So there we go...took us about half an hour, might be a bit of a struggle with a pram (and probably not worth attempting at all with a wheelchair)...but the start of something very special, a return trip may *well* be in order when the summer meadow is in full bloom! ;)