Walk in Derbyshire

Leaving Hartington village

The earthworks are all that remain of Pilsbury castle

on the track

What it was like then

Derbyshire countryside

...stone walls...

back to Hartington

Thanks to everyone who has posted comments or emailed!

Today we went for a walk in Derbyshire.  The weather was showery at times but still warm.
We left from the village of Hartington in the Peak District.  It is a pretty village of stone buildings centred around a village green with a duck pond, a church, 2 pubs and a cheese shop which makes stilton.
The walk we did was 17km or so, 3 and 1/2 hours passing the ruins of an iron age hill fortification, later a Norman castle.
The sun came out when we got back to Hartington, luckily an ice cream van was parked at the village green!

Steam train

well, this one is diesel...

but this one is a steam train.

 Shackerstone station

train buffs delight

Malcolm inspects the train...

... then we have a toasted teacake in the station café.

These trains were running on the Battlefield Line - a stretch of railway run by the Shackerton Railway Society, which has renovated the trains and stations back to their Victorian era heyday.  We checked it out after visiting Boswell today.

Bosworth Battlefield

Café in medieval tithe barn at Boswell

 

Malcolm tries on the armour

I don't like this armour

 

Battlefield hill

view of the battlefield

we walked around the battlefield

peasants

archers

 

Today we went to the battlefield where Richard III lost his life to Henry VII - the battle of Boswell Field.  There were people dressed up to show what the encampment would have been like before the battle.  the archers gave a display but wouldn't let us have a go!  :-(

Malcolm did try on some armour but found the chain mail really heavy and hard to breathe in.  No way could he have got it off without help.  We are now experts on Richard III - but will we ever get any quiz questions so we can show off our knowledge??
The medieval tithe barn in the café was originally standing across the river from my family home outside Sandiace Church but was taken down in the 1970's and eventually re-assembled at Bosworth.

Malcolm explores Nottingham

This pub is one of several claiming to be the oldest in Nottingham

 

Malcolm and Robin Hood

Gatehouse into Nottingham castle

 

Looking through the gatehouse to Nottingham castle and gardens

Mmmm - a chocolaterie and good coffee!

Artificial beach with sand, water, fountains etc at slab square

We were shopping for some bits and pieces we needed for when we leave for Europe in a couple of days.  Just took photos of some landmarks as we passed.  The weather is still good. 

Another Walk...Newstead Abbey

Malcolm walks beside a cornfield with poppies

Tourist and statue at Newstead Abbey

Stirring the stew

The old railway track

A green lane

Newstead Abbey - not many tourists!

Lake and stables

Wildflowers beside the path

Linby village and our car

Lunch pub - once owned by our family!

A walk in the Nottinghamshire countryside

Today we took our car and drove to a nearby village called Linby.  We parked in the pub car park where we had a chat to the publican.  I told him a relative owned the pub in the mid 1800's (actually, checking up on my family tree this afternoon I realise 3 generations owned it).  He told us that when Jacob Jennison (Jake)passed the pub on to his grandson he used to come and stay in the out-buildings and he was very eccentric.  He hid a stash of money in the loft and when his grandson finally found it the mice had used it to make nests from!

Anyway we had found details of a circular walk online and set off from Linby along a disused railway track.  It was full of wild flowers - more than I could name, and butterflies and birds.  Then the path led through a lodge gate into the grounds of Newstead Abbey.  This was a medieval Abbey that had been destroyed by Henry VIII and a mansion built on the grounds beside the ruins.  There are lakes and amazing gardens.  It was the family home of the poet, Lord Byron.

First stop was the tea rooms, then we had a wander around the gardens before continuing our walk through a wood, along a green lane, across fields and finally back to Linby in time for a pub lunch in the pub that could have been still in the family but unfortunately isn't!

Hey Faith - pub lunch, ham and mustard baguette with cider



Salmon and prawn salad





Back home, mum's garden

Punting

The punting gang!

Off we go...

...past the colleges that border the river

Malcolm takes over from our punter/guide

scenery...

...more scenery



Yesterday we were in Cambridge where we met up with Jo and Alistair and Ian and Maxine.  In the afternoon we went punting on the River Cam.  We hired a punt with a guide who punted us.  he told us the history of the old colleges that front onto the river, and about the various bridges we went under.  Malcolm had a go, I think Alastair will have good photos of this.  It was really hot, 32 degrees.

In the evening we went to an outdoor performance of Romeo and Juliet in the Fellows garden at King's College.  It was a beautiful, warm evening.  Some of us enjoyed the show, others were less impressed.

There were thunderstorms in the night and the weather was less hot today.  Malcolm, mum, Jo, Alistair and I went on the open top double decker bus tour for an hour and a half.  Then we had lunch in the centre of Cambridge.  Jo and Alistair left us to continue with their adventures and we drove back to Nottingham where we have had more thunderstorms.  the heat wave is supposed to continue, however...

Just eating and drinking

coffee in the Lime Lounge

breakfast in mum's garden

Sunday July 21st.

We've been here 5 days now and have had 3 days of heat-wave and 2 cooler ones. 
The first couple of days we spent organising stuff.  We bought a car and have it in a garage as it needed a couple of things doing.  Also got a new sim card for our phone and various other things like that.  It was so hot that we spent quite a bit of time just lounging around in the garden.

On Friday we drove out to a nearby village, West Hallam, that had a scarecrow festival.  They are quite common here in the summer apparently but I don't know when they started, sometime in the last couple of decades.  We had a great pub lunch and a wander around looking at the various creations.  All very English.

Yesterday we went to Derbyshire (the next county to Nottinghamshire) but very different in scenery.  Derbyshire has lots of stone buildings whereas Nottinghamshire has brick ones.  Derbyshire has lots of moorland and it's fields are bordered with stone walls where we have hedges.  It was a greyish day so we didn't take many photos.  We went to a village called Bakewell which is famous for inventing the Bakewell Tart and the Bakewell Pudding (they obviously bake well there!?)  We have eaten before at both the claimants to be the 'original' Bakewell pudding shop so tried the Lime Lounge where to my surprise they had excellent coffees, flat white and cappuccino.

Today, another greyish day, Malcolm and I went for a walk in the morning.  we had only been gone about 20 mins when we stopped for a coffee at a café in a garden centre that was just off the footpath.  The walk went through woodland and fields and along the canal side.  When we got home 3 hours later we felt like we deserved lunch so took mum out to a nice place we all know.  Malcolm was going to have salad until he saw he could get a Sunday roast lunch with dessert from the 'Golden Years' menu at a cheaper price!

 

This is our car