I was invited by my daughter to visit Waddesdon with her two children for a Day with Scooters, and naturally another visit to the splendid setting of house and gardens, the first this year was an opportunity I was not going to miss. They now have a car park area in the lower part of the park, and one then takes a coach to the fountain roundabout that is the start of the main drive to the front of the house, one of several houses belonging to the Rothschild Banking dynasty. The guide we met was bubbly, helpful and on seeing the scooters, she said if we hand these to the driver, he will stow them in the front of the coach, and after taking the ticket from us we boarded, with the two children heading straight for the back seats!
Soon the coach filled with other families, but on that coach we were the only ones with scooters, and seemingly we were early as when we reached the drop-off point we only saw a couple of others with scooters in the distance by the house. We headed for the small tent to get our maps for the ‘Tour de France’ trail and chat to further, friendly volunteer guides – you are made to feel warmly welcomed at every turn.
My daughter had prepared lunch for us all, so we headed for a bench and whilst she prepared everything the two children happily scooted back and forth along the path, eventually coming to sit down to eat and drink, then we consulted the maps and began the trail, after the first stop which had been reasonably level, the path sloped more steeply and the boy’s brake on the rear wheel proved difficult to slow down safely, so for a spell he had to walk (not what he had hoped), but we were not killjoys: we had already had minor spills and with thin summer clothes, knees and elbows are easily grazed.
Every so often I took opportunities to take photographs, though generally close at hand should mishaps occur. The two of them found a den that appealed and later when the rain came all of us found welcome shelter there.
We broke for tea where we did have a minor disaster with our little girl whilst trying to sit on the chain between heavy iron barriers managed to pull one over on herself, which did open the floodgates for tears, but fortunately though she did receive a bump, it was mainly the shock that caused her to sob.
As we collected or drinks and both children had ice creams, it began to rain and we sat down at the front of the house, with both children seeking temporary shelter beneath a table! We donned wet weather gear and headed for the children’s ‘base’ before heading back to the trail after the rain, and soon the sun returned.
On completing the trail we headed once more to the tent for the collection of their trophies. It was while we were there we noticed the three step plinth, on which some parents were placing their children for photos – one inventive father placed his child on the top step, then dived his head beneath her legs and carried the child off on his shoulders! I was impressed by his lateral thinking!
We left after a thoroughly enjoyable afternoon. The gallery of images has flowers, leaves, butterflies, bees, landscapes, and colour.
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