Saturday 2 April 2016

Frensham Little Pond

If the dogs of Great Britain were asked to name their favourite National Trust property, it would be Frensham Little Pond.

I have never seen so many happy canines. And bear in mind that I once accidentally spent an afternoon at a dog show in Montana, where there were about 3000 dogs who should have been in their element. However, many of them were dressed up as hot-dogs or clowns and that seemed to cause a lot of bewilderment.

Anyway, there were loads of unbaffled dogs today. I did see one big dog take a ball belonging to a small dog and the two sets of owners having a conference about this, but apart from that it was all fun and exuberance.

Frensham Little Pond
Frensham Little Pond - dogs love it
I really wasn't sure what to expect from Frensham Little Pond. It's not the most enticing of place names - there's a man down my road who has a little pond, and he has even helpfully put it in his front garden so anyone can see it. Why would I want to travel miles to see a little pond? 

But it's actually a very big pond (38 acres in fact) and it's a lovely place. It was created in 1246 by the Bishop of Winchester, who wanted a supply of fish for Farnham Castle. It has remained pretty much the same ever since.


Frensham Little Pond

It's also only 8 miles from Aldershot, and yet you feel as if you're at the coast, thanks to the sandy heathland. It's an unusual place. 

But onto the scones. I'm not 100% sure that there were no scones today. It's quite rare for an outdoor cafe to have scones and I couldn't see any. But I just didn't have the heart to ask the woman at the counter - it just felt wrong to bowl up and say "I see you serve all manner of lovely foods but I am going to be difficult and ask for something you don't have". They did have very nice orange, lemon and lime cake though, so I had that.


Frensham Little Pond cake



Frensham Little Pond: 4 out of 5
Scones: I'm almost certain there weren't any, but the cake was lovely
Dog joy-o-meter: off the scale

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