Come For A Ride

I thought I'd show you the sort of things Max and I see when we go out for a hack. Don't worry if you can't ride, you'll be fine. Tessa's decided she wants to come too.

Firstly I was very surprised to see this. It's honesty, and it always fascinated me as a child. You rub your fingers on each paper petal, and the outside sheets come off and the seeds fall out. Florists sell it like that, but it's very rare now.

This is what I went looking for. Aren't they beautiful? Since I've seen these,

I'm spotting them all over the place,

and there were hundreds at Hardwick Hall.

We approached one of my favourite houses, and I felt as if I was being watched.

As I got nearer to the gate, I realised someone was staring at me.

An Alpaca! I hope you can see his little slipper feet.

His name is Dexter and he is three.

The cheapest alpaca costs around four hundred pounds for a male.

The females can cost thousands.

Soon they will be clipped.

There are four of them altogether, all different colours.

Max just stares at them. I don't think he's frightened,

he just wants to know what they are.

This garden is particularly well laid out. I love it.

Someone's pleased to see me!

On the way home we spot Goat and Goose. They are very good friends.

The goat was bought as a companion for the horse in this field, but then he got lonely,

so now the goose is his friend. She is a 'dry' goose. She won't go for a swim.

They've tried to get her into water, but she doesn't like it!

The collie is called Ben.

He sits on the wall and barks at you to let you know he's guarding his house.
Sometimes you think he isn't going to bark, as he saves it until you're nearly past,

then he lets rip.

It makes me jump every time, but Max is never fooled.

Some horsey sixth sense I think.

The little Westie is called Tilly.

She doesn't belong to Ben's owner, she lives up the road.

But she and Ben are an item, and she comes up every day to spend some time with him.

She wasn't keen on Tessa, 'the other woman' and came out to see what was going on.

I think we'll go for a trot now and canter on the verge on the way home, so hold onto your hat! We'll have a nice cup of tea when we get in.