Scarecrow Festival

You might have noticed that several of the photos in the February Scavenger Hunt were taken at Tatton Park. Having visited and enjoyed the Scarecrow Festival last year, it was an easy decision to visit again when it was on a couple of weeks ago.

Most of the scarecrows are in the gardens so that's where we headed. Dorothy and her pals welcomed us in. Toto the dog must have been out exploring though.

To quote from the information sheet: 'Wild in the Kitchen Garden you must go, to hunt for wise scarecrows who certainly know, of lessons and morals and lots of fun things, to help your imagination and knowledge sing!'

The theme in the kitchen garden was Aesop's Fables. The man himself appeared as a ghostly apparition to introduce the garden trail and quiz. 

Mr Frog and friend represented 'The frogs and the well' which is one I'm not familiar with.

A little more familiar was The strength of wind and sun.

And I definitely knew 'The town mouse and the country mouse', though I confess I didn't know it was written by Aesop.

Not all of the scarecrows were related to Aesop though!

After completing the quiz, we headed off to explore the rest of the gardens. 

The Japanese gardens are lovely at any time of the year.

Pretty soon, we came across more scarecrows. Some seemed to be suffering an identity crisis or had got dressed in the dark. Did this bearded emperor realise he'd dressed up as the Queen of Hearts?

Would the prince really have come to rescue this Sleeping Beauty?

All the girls love a sailor!

But what about a pirate? Go on, how many of you thought 'Jack Sparrow'? If only Johnny Depp really had been in the gardens at Tatton Park that day!

Professor Plum with a revolver in the garden. We love a bit of Cluedo!

Despite the sun, it was a tad chilly so we were glad to escape into the orangery for a while to warm up and admire the beautiful and colourful plants and flowers.

And this old guy kept us entertained with his banjo playing until it was time for us to go and find the cafe for a spot of tea and cake.

There were so many more scarecrows I could have shown you but I'm going to end with this instead. As you know we like looking for 'creatures' when we go out and Chickpea spotted an alligator emerging from the ground.

Another fun few hours spent at Tatton, one of our very favourite places, and it's safe to say we'll be back again before too long :)