23 July 2009: Walking at Ladybower Reservoir

We decided to go for a circular walk today in the Peak District National Park. The weather was fine if overcast but ideal for walking. Our walk took us up through a forest to start and then up onto the Derwent Moors to Whinestone Peak. The views from the top were absolutely beautiful (see photo) and we could see for miles around. We walked along the peak to a natural feature called the wheelstones and then we came down the hillside back to the rim of the reservoir. The reservoir itself dates back to the 1940’s and prior to this it was the floor of the valley with a river called Millbrook running through it. Where the Derwent river and Millbrook met there was a village called Derwent. Unfortunately the village had to be sacrificed for the sake of the reservoir and in the mid 40’s after the war, the dam was completed and the valley flooded. There is a photo of the church spire sticking out of the middle of the reservoir in 1947, the last part of the village to become totally submerged. On our way back to the car, along the banks of the reservoir, we met a man fishing who told us that his wife had been the last person to be christened at the church before it was closed and flooded! After our walk we drove around the area, calling first at Ashford on the Water (one of the prettiest Peak Villages) and then Bakewell, home of the Bakewell Tart. We were impressed with Bakewell, it was pretty, well cared for, had a nice river running through it, lovely architecture and a fantastic little Italian cafe where we had our supper! The end of a lovely day.

22 July 2009: Harewood House

Saboohi arrived today on the 10.21 at Leeds Station (yippee). Rather than stay in the city we decided to visit Harewood House. The house is magnificent and set in acres and acres of private estate and gardens. When the Queen’s aunt Princess Mary married the Earl of Harewood this grand house became her principle home and there are lots of personal belongings and memories of her around the house. The famous furniture maker Thomas Chippendale, worked at Harewood House for many years and so most of the furniture found here has been made by him. The house is also full to the brim of famous artwork and Turner spent a year at Harewood when he was still a young artist, painting various views of the house for the Earl. Apparently he was paid just £10 per painting! Bargain. The furnishings are lavish and beautifully restored and kept throughout the house and Saboohi felt that it was one of the most beautiful Stately Homes she had visited as regards the presentation of the rooms. It had a very large “Below Stairs” exhibition too with all the kitchens, food preparation rooms, butler’s, steward’s and housekeeper’s rooms accessible and showing what life used to be like for someone “in service”. It was all very interesting.

21 July 2009: Meeting with Celia

It was a grey and wet day today. It was an ideal day for finding a nice cosy pub and catching up with old friends, which is exactly what I did. My friend Celia Garnett lives in a small village near here called Upperthong. I know Celia from my time at Carshalton College she used to visit and work with our Hairdressing and Beauty Therapy teams. I didn’t she lived around here until I was looking at the local map just before I came away and saw the unforgettable name of Upperthong starring back at me! When I picked Celia up for lunch I realised that I had passed her house on Sunday when I was on my Holmfirth circular walk. The views from her lovely little cottage are stunning, across the fields, down over the valley and across to the hills beyond. We went to a gastropub called The Butchers Arms in Helmsley for lunch and spent a few hours catching up on news and putting the world of FE to rights. A perfect way to spend a wet afternoon

20 July 2009: Palaces in the Peaks

I was up early this morning, the sun was shining and the birds were singing and I was wide awake by 6 a.m. A visit to Chatsworth House was order of the day and possibly Hardwick House. Both are located an hour away from here, in the Peak District National Park but with the roof down and the sun shining, the journey was a pleasure from start to finish. I called in at Hardwick Hall first (National Trust House) only to find that it is closed on Mondays so I headed over to Chatsworth House instead. I don’t think Chatsworth ever closes; it is a huge, impressive and palatial house, with extensive gardens and grounds which means big business for the Duke and Duchess of Devonshire, who’s family own and run the place. The house is magnificent and has been the backdrop to many period films. The Duchess and Pride and Prejudice were both filmed here and there were plenty of photos of Kiera Knightly around the place as a reminder. It really is stunningly beautiful though and teeming with valuable furniture, pictures and ornaments. A place to admire but not somewhere you could live! I could have spent all day there as there are several circular walks throughout the grounds but I wanted to see more of the Peak District. So next I headed into Bakewell with the intention of purchasing a delicious Bakewell Tart. Unfortunately hundreds of other tourists had the same idea and the place was packed (turned out it was also Market Day).
So I drove through Bakewell and as I emerged the other side I came across another Stately Home called Haddon Hall, home of Lord Edward Manners. When I paid for my entrance ticket I told the man in the kiosk that I had just been to Chatsworth House and he responded with “oh you will find this quite different here, it’s more historic”. I thought that an odd thing to say as Chatsworth had a long and distinguished history over the past 400 years but then I realised that Haddon Hall (see photo) is over 800 years old! It feels and looks its age too as country houses in medieval times were very simple and functional. It looks like a romantic castle from the outside and inside it feels like it hasn’t been changed for centuries. Door frames are on a slant, leaded windows are buckling, the beams are potted and scarred and the floors uneven. I loved it! In the ancient church there are tiny bats nesting in the rafters, we couldn’t see them but we could hear them chatting and calling to each other. In one of the bedchambers there were several signatures written on the plastered walls of royal visitors (Charles and Anne dated 1979 and Mary and George dated 1933).
It was about 3.30 p.m. when I left Haddon Hall so I drove over to my last stop for the day at a village called Eyam. Eyam became famous in 1665 when it experienced an outbreak of plague in the village. London had lost over 100,000 people because of the plague and unfortunately one of the villagers, ordered some cloth from a merchant in London and when it arrived it was damp. So the cloth was placed near a fire to dry out and as the cloth dried some dormant fleas in the cloth came to life. They were carrying The Plague. Between September 1665 and the Summer of 1666 over a third of the village died (about 260 people) from the Plague and the village had to be cut off from the rest of the country in order to try and contain it. Complete families were wiped out. Today “the plague houses” as they are now known all have plaques on them saying who lived and died there but in the grave yard there is only one person buried there as most had to be buried in the family’s own gardens to try and prevent the spread of the disease. Such a sad story.

19 July 2009: Walking in Holmfirth

I arrived at my charming little cottage at about 5 p.m. yesterday evening. Pellcot is a small C17 cottage with a small lounge, kitchen and bathroom on the ground floor and a good sized bedroom upstairs with lots of beams and a ceiling that stretches into the rafters. The views from every room are beautiful as the house sits in a hilltop village (wooldale) looking down over a valley. Today was my first full day so I thought I would try out one the circular walks in my Peak District Walks book! Holmfirth is just a short distance from here, it is the home of "Last of the Summer Wine" and it is the start for one of my walks. It is very hilly around here so the walk was undulating throughout and gave me a good workout! The weather was fine to start but by the time I reached 2 thirds through the walk the clouds gathered and it bucketed down with rain. So I was back in the cottage by 15.00 pm, wet but but invigorated. There is a very "thoughtful" shop just a few yards from the cottage where I have been able to buy everything I need. So I dried off, grabbed my Sunday paper and settled down for a quiet, relaxing afternoon.