Our second visit today was to Montacute House, just west of Yeovil.

We found a lovely, quiet, picnic area to eat our lunch:

The house is much more imposing than Lyte’s Cary:

We then went on an estate walk, this time climbing up a fairly steep path through woodland:

There was a break in the trees, with a convenient bench to admire the view back to the village:

The route then returned via a field of sheep (who were untroubled by Rocco):

A lovely day, and back “home” before the rain started.

Our first visit today was to Lyte’s Cary Manor, a small manor house and grounds near Ilchester:

We started off by taking one of the waymarked walks around the estate. There were many teasels by the path:

Further on, we crossed a river, so Rocco had to be on the lead:

And a geocache!

Unfortunately, the gardens were “assistance dogs only”, so we had to visit them, and the house, in shifts:

An interesting visit, marred slightly by one or two very loud little boys…

Next on the route was Sherborne Abbey. When we got nearby, there were big signs by the entrance gate stating “Consecrated Ground – No Dogs”. So off I went to explore the area while Tina looked inside. After a while, she beckoned me over and explained that not only did everyone ignore the No Dogs sign, they’d recently decided that dogs were welcome in the Abbey. So Rocco had the honour of being one of the first dogs allowed in…

The ceiling was particularly attractive:

And there was a lovely Lego model of the abbey, suitably illuminated:

After that, we found a local pub for lunch, then found somewhere for Rocco to let off a bit of steam:

During which, he disgraced himself by finding a river to paddle in…