This being Sunday I had given myself the permission not to walk and just rest. But I found I couldn’t do it!
So Neal and I went walking on the trail near the Bessborough House and saw lots of interesting things.
Old grotto through the fence 
Closer to the grotto being used for camping 
Ferns and flowers in the woods 
Lovely pond 
Pond and Secret Sky 
Humble Dandelion 
Wood Violets 
Wood Anemone 
Graffiti 
Bessborough Folly 
Bessborough 
Bessborough 
Main House 
Bessborough Chapel
The whole place has a troubled history.
The BBC produced a special report. This was a mother and baby home connected to the Sisters of the Sacred Heart who still have a convent at the location.
The folly, built when the house was privately owned, was almost destroyed. The nuns were forced to reinstate it after a dispute over its destruction.
It was strange thing to walk around, trying to find beauty in a place that had been the home to so much sorrow. Indeed, the folly stands as a symbol of a strange juxtaposition of beauty and nonsense, compassion and cruelty; good intention and sorrow.