this past spring i found perhaps my favourite place on the whole earth. the isabella plantation at peak azalea bloom just has to be what heaven looks like. spending time there on a sunny day is just absolutely transcendent. there’s no way i could capture even a tenth of the sensational beauty, but i definitely tried by taking sooo many photos, haha. prepare your eyes for lots of intense colour and intense beauty in this post 🙂

we first went to the isabella planation, a fenced off section of massive richmond park in southwest london, with some friends in late april. it was gorgeous, but the azaleas weren’t in full bloom quite yet. we had a really lovely time with our best buds and vowed to come back to see what we could just imagine with our mind’s eyes as we passed row after row of not-quite bloomed flowers.

there were some incredible camellias when we first entered the plantation…

and then we found a smattering of bloomed azalea bushes. the kids had sooo much fun just running and jumping around and playing in nature.

so, so forever grateful for these amazing first friends for moses. these kids started going to joy school together in 2018 and watching their friendship grow has been one of the greatest joys of my life.

we decided the perfect day to go back to the isabella plantation (after trying to keep tabs on when it might be in full bloom) was mother’s day! so after the boys brought me breakfast in bed, and the babies gave me lots of smiles…

…and we had zoom church and ian gave me the only gift i ask for every mother’s day – a good photo of me with all my kids…

…we headed back to the isabella plantation.

and within minutes we were transported to heaven. it honest to goodness felt like that.

we meandered through the canyons of flowers, wonderstruck. ian played fun games with the boys and i took lots of photos 🙂

we threw rocks in the wandering streams, and found some gorgeous rhododendrons in addition to the azaleas…

…and were just blown away by all the beauty.

the cherry on the top of the day was that we found and adopted our first family pet – a tiny caterpillar lovingly named hargle.

the boys fell in love with him right away…

…and then promptly lost him on the way to the car park when it was time to go home. it was a good twenty minutes with little hargle 🙂

we even found a little bluebell meadow ^^ on our way out. i’m telling you, this place is magic.

yes, heaven is the isabella plantation.