Expect Equine Visitors

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With yesterday’s snow now but a memory, today held a real promise of spring.

The Culinary Queen made us a picnic lunch,

half of which we consumed in Whitemoor Pool car park, which, in common with all other such New Forest facilities offers a really rocky ride from the road, riddled as it is with murky pothole pools. Ponies had been there before us.

On our way to the moors, we had enjoyed the drive along Lower Sandy Down where primroses, daisies, and crocuses thrust through the cropped sward on the shadow-striated banks of its clear, flowing, stream. One garden contained a huge fallen tree.

Runner and dog

Just outside Brockenhurst, I hoped the stains streaking the backs of the legs of a runner towing his dog was mud thrown up by his trainers from the soggy terrain.

As opined by Jackie, if you live in a New Forest village you must expect equine visitors to you garden or any patch of grass outside. So it is with Brockenhurst, where ponies basked in the welcome sunshine.

Back home, a wander around the garden with its own early afternoon shadows, made clear that our plants have all survived.

We dined this evening on Jackie’s succulent pork chops flavoured with mustard and topped with almonds; crispy roasted potatoes; crunchy carrots and broccoli; and red cabbage, peppers and onions in red wine, with which I finished the Chateauneuf.

59 comments

  1. Beautiful spring landscapes, Derrick. It doesn’t look like the snow affected anything. It is good to see all that green and the lovely spring blooms. (It’s snowing here.) Those ponies are amazing to me, but I suppose it must be commonplace or expected as you said.

  2. I remember the camellias and wood anemones from other years in your garden – they are favorites of mine. Can’t believe how many flowers you guys have already!

  3. I loved your photos of the horses basking in the sunshine on the front grass area of the house in Brockenhurst, haha, over here, out in the country towns, it might be kangaroos on the front lawn.

  4. Those ponies look right at home. πŸ˜€ … which is something I find rather wonderful, although I suppose it’s all commonplace to those humans who live there. πŸ˜€

  5. Was that a slab of pork pie atop the sandwiches? It certainly looks good enough to eat.
    A runner with a dog, and stained legs, here, would be more like a runner with tattoos on his legs.
    Try as I might I have been unable to purchase a “Baseball cap” with a reverse peak, the only ones I can find have forward facing peaks so it looks like I shall have to miss out.
    Thankfully!

  6. I don’t believe I’ve ever made or eaten a succulent pork chop. I tend to over-cook them and they require vigorous and determined mastication. Do people ever feed the free range ponies apples or is that forbidden?

    1. Many thanks, Susanne. People do feed the ponies, but it is not generally advised. It stops them foraging; too many apples are not good for them; they can bite. Some people feed them from their gardens – they queue up for this.

  7. What a difference a day makes – I would like to see some side by side comparisons.

    So nice to see the ponies relaxing in the sun rather than standing frigid in the snow!

    You have made me hungry again!

  8. Picnic pies, potholes, ponies and plants, they are all produce pretty photographs. Or perhaps it is the passion of presenter that produces such beauties.

  9. One of the very few things I really miss about Britain is the Pork Pie. I am very glad this was included in the packed lunch and I am sure it enhanced what was clearly a beautiful day to perfection

      1. I sustain myself with pΓ’tΓ© en croute but nothing beats real PP … my mother always has one in the fridge to greet me when I visit πŸ˜€

  10. How fun to expect horses! One of the things I enjoy so much about your blog is how you lovingly chronicle where you live. The cherry on the sundae, of course, is reading about Jackie’s fabulous meals.

  11. Preparing and packing picnics is one of my favorite things … next to consumi g them of course. Thank you for sharing a charming day outπŸ₯

  12. Awww, I love the charming gathering of ponies on the lawn of a quaint house!
    The different nature pictures indicate Spring and it’s promises poking up, Derrick! Such pretty pictures with just the right variety, a bouquet to feast upon. . .

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