T Stands for....Twelve o'clock entry!

Hi everyone! I wonder if anyone guessed where we might have visited last week?
It is somewhere we used to pop into on a whim in pre Corona times!
This time we had to go on line and book in for this visit. We had a Midday entry so we took the 12 minute drive and arrived almost exactly on time! 

There were warnings on the road telling us that if we hadn't booked we would be turned away!

This is similar sign by the gardens for anyone who thought they could walk in without coming in their car!

This was taken on our way out but you can see that it was one way only to get in which set the tone for the rest of our visit!
The last time we visited Quarry Bank Mill at Styal was back in March....Link here....now the daffodils are gone and and we also saw lots of flowers that we had missed!

 There are crops in the field by the path up to the garden entrance - the only place we could not avoid being passed by a couple walking towards us who hadn't got the sense to walk in single file - the path is quite wide but not the required 2 metres!
Once in the gardens it was one way only and reminders to keep apart.  

The newly built visitor centre and cafe waiting to open - who knows when? 

 The greenhouse roped off but we could see the grapevines growing well!

We had a peep into the small greenhouse too

A couple were sharing a picnic by the sweet peas

 No access to our favourite way down by the steps - probably because the handrail would be widely used!

 We could still look down there though

 Next we came to one of my favourite areas - the Peonies and Irises, sadly most are dying off - still beauty in decay though! 

 A peony and iris clinging to each other!

We followed directions to the path down to the lower garden.

The bees were loving this

 As you can see from this flower it had been raining (when we left home actually) but although it was windy and cool in the car park it was quite warm in the sheltered gardens!

 A better view of the new visitor centre.

The directions led us to a path we had never been on before

 Even smaller sets of steps were roped off

We were pleased to see that not all rhododendrons were finished.

You can see how steep it is down to the lower garden - thank goodness the path winds it way down slowly!

The gardeners are  working hard

Here are the Irises that were on my last post!

Lots of folk having picnics...not for us!

 The sun shone briefly and hubby had a shadow for all of ten minutes!

 A view we have never seen before as we were not allowed out onto our usual route back!

 This is where we came in....

 ...and went out!

 Back in the car park we had a drink of water and a biscuit and it is here I will join Bleubeard and Elizabeth for T Stands For Tuesday.

The whole trip took us just over an hour and a half and we were home in time for lunch....

..one of our favourites, Fish Finger sandwich and salad, and more water!

I do hope you aren't too tired now,I was going to post my latest Journal page but I will save that for my next post if you would like to see it.

Thanks for looking! Take care, we still live in dangerous times!
Chris