We’ve been meaning to visit the National Arboretum for a while as it can be reached in about ninety minutes from our cottages near Bakewell (click here).  Although it started dull the forecast was for it to brighten up which unfortunately it didn’t. One departure and one cleaner up.  Andrew was up to release cows into the paddock and field behind us so they can chomp that down.  He cannot decide when to silage but silaging is definitely well under way in the area.  We set off mid morning so had plenty of time to wander around the 150 acres (which includes a lake) – and it is still growing.   There are no admission charges, but donations are appreciated, and in lieu of entrance fees they charge for the car parking.  There are over 200 memorials and not all are military, like one for the Police and the RNLI, and not all military ones relate to the UK, the Polish one was interesting.  We found the WI wall where we had a chat with one of the volunteers who was doing some work nearby.  The ‘Shot at Dawn’ (306 stakes to represent those shot at dawn during WW1 for ‘cowardice or desertion’) and Far East POW tributes were quite moving and there was also a 9/11 memorial.  It will certainly be worth another visit in a few years time to see how the 50,000 trees are maturing. Here is a link to some of the photos I took.  We came back via Ashbourne which was a quicker route than taking the A6 which we had done in the morning.  After tea Joanna collected me for our monthly WI committee meeting.