The afternoon started by parking up in the car park at 2pm and was shown by the car parking attendees where to park, which there was no problem and very well-organised. I then headed to the Visitor Centre where I waited around until I met Paul, who was the only one who booked on for this event.  We showed our tickets, and we were into the garden.

The first place we visited was the Laburnum Arch, which was in full bloom and looked magnificent. It was obviously very busy with people to get some decent photos but took a few anyway and decided to come back later in the afternoon at 5pm when it will be much quieter which it was for better photos. We spent around 15 minutes around the arch before heading off into the garden and walked the River Walk in a clock wise direction, which was 3km long. We headed to the Far End of the garden and stopped off for a short rest at the Boat House and took some lovely photos while taking in the lovely views. Furthermore, we then headed off to see the Waterfall Bridge but as there hadn't been much rain for a while it wasn't much of a waterfall sadly compared to my last trip back in October, but the surrounding Rhododendrons made up for it which were spectacular, and we even say a Heron which was fishing.

We then decided to walk up to The Poem, which sadly is inaccessible due to restoration, and the headed to The Old mill which we stopped off for another short break and took in the history of the mill by reading the information boards. From there we carried on to see the Pin Mill and Terraces then Bodnant House before heading back to see The Laburnum Arch before the garden closed for the day.

I was so pleased to get great photos of the Laburnum Arch with no people, and Paul was great company to be with and compare phones for photography.

Report by David Roberts