When North Winds do blow
It’s too cold to garden but the perfect time to take a walk in the park - Auckland Castle Park
of course - which is what friend Elaine and I did a couple of weeks ago, in the
snow.
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| View from the Deer House |
Quite a few others had had the same idea, including,
of all people, a man riding a unicycle! A walk last year in the snowy park
elicited a skier which was fairly unusual for Bishop Auckland, but a unicycle
in the snow was completely bizarre.
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| Close-up of amazing tree bark |
We wanted to take photos of the trees draped in snow,
but, ironically, the snow had only just peppered the trees so we concentrated on the
deer house.
Sadly, the Deer House is almost a deserted folly
as deer are rarely to be seen although there are substantial herds at
nearby Whitworth Hall and also some miles away at Raby Castle.
In its heyday, the Bishops, their family and guests used to picnic in the tower
of the Deer House while watching deer caring for their young in the central
courtyard below.
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| View of the roof tops of the Deer House |
The future of the Bishops’ Park and Auckland Castle
are now assured with their recent purchase by philanthropist Jonathan Ruffer.
His plans to make Auckland
Castle a major tourist
attraction and a centre of ecclesiastical history are on target and - especially
of interest to gardeners - work on restoring the walled kitchen garden has
already begun and, hopefully, the garden will be open to the public later this year.
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| Looking upwards in the Deer House |
