Spherical nest

Two Summers ago, after being slapped on the face once too often by one of the long stray tendrils branching out from the honeysuckle, I decided it was time to prune it back. The whole plant was thick with juicy, orange berries and some of the branches looked as though they had been dipped in honey where the aphids huddled together. I clipped off those midway to begin with, as they were at eye level. Then I nipped off some of the bottom branches. This left me with the stragglers at the top reaching upwards towards the sky. As I was stretching on tip-toe for one that was slightly beyond my reach, I noticed what appeared to be a child's ball wedged deep in the heart of the shrub. I clipped back more of the branches to try and pull out the ball. Eventually, I was able to see it quite clearly - it was almost buff in colour, and there were branches protruding through it. I examined it more closely to find a small hole in its bottom. It was then that I realised that it was a nest. A wasps' nest. Despite this nest only being six feet from the back wall of the house there had not been any evidence of wasps in the vicinity throughout the entirety of the Summer. Not a buzz, either inside or outside the house. This wasp nest was between six and seven inches in diameter. It was well constructed, almost a perfect sphere, it looked as though it had been made out of parchment. I left it untouched but only saw one or two wasps near it over the next few weeks. I presumed that the young had been reared and had flown off. post extra: day 5 after St Swithin's day - we have had torrential rain all day and according the weather forecast it is expected to continue until 6.00 am tomorrow morning -