Synopsis: Holiday with Helen, Laura, Mum and Me in the Peak District. We stayed in The Hideaway, a self-catering cabin in Mappleton, which proved very cosy. An active and enjoyable holiday.
The idea for the holiday only occurred to us a little before our holiday was due to start. Helen and I were talking about where we might go, looking at a map of England, when Helen saw Sherwood Forest. She immediately thought of the infamous Robin Hood and said she must see the location where his activities, more recently Kevin Costner, are reputed to have taken place. A quick look around and it was obvious that there was much to see in the area, being near the Peak District National Park and within reach of a number of large stately homes open to the public. A quick hunt for self-catering accommodation on the Internet concluded our planning and we were set to go.
Saturday 23rd July: The trip north including pick-up of Laura at Heathrow
Helen, Mum and I loaded up the car with our bags and set off for Heathrow where we were due to meet with Laura who was flying in around midday. Laura arrived punctually and we were soon on our way for the 150 mile journey to our holiday destination. I had to put a cycle carrier on the back of Mum’s car onto which we strapped Laura’s bag, as there wasn’t room for it in the car. We stopped off at a motorway service station on route and had a picnic lunch on the grass verge of the car park.
On arriving at The Hideaway, our holiday cabin for the week, we quickly dropped our bags and set off for Ashbourne, as we needed to do a supermarket shop, not having room to carry groceries with us in the car. We stocked up with enough supplies to keep us in food for a few days including some pizzas for an easy supper this first night.
On arriving back at The Hideaway the owner, Annie, obviously of Scots origin, greeted us. She asked if we had all we needed, and offered to provide a barbecue for us. She was very friendly and helpful. There were some nice welcome goodies in the cabin including a bottle of wine in the fridge.
Sunday 24th July: Dovedale walk and Ilam Park
We didn’t have definite plans for what we would do each day of the holiday, so after breakfast this first morning we looked though the Peak District guide book that we’d brought with us. We discovered a Dovedale river walk was very close by, and as we’d done a lot of driving the previous day, this seemed a good option for today.
Dovedale Walk
The guide book had described the walk as being 2.5 miles but, after parking the car, we bought a map of the walk route, and discovered that the walk to Milldale was 3.5 miles, so the full round walk would be 7 miles. Mum seemed undaunted by this (well, she did have her walking shoes on), so off we set from the car park along the lane that follows the river.
Dovedale Walk - stepping stones over River Dove
It’s not long before we come upon stepping stones over the River Dove. I had read that there was a footbridge across the river, but now realise that was back at the car park and now there was only the stepping stones to get us across. Helen, Laura and I hopped along the stones to the other side, but Mum showed no signs of following. Luckily there were two heroic National Trust men clearing debris from between the stones one of whom, in his wellington boots, took Mum’s hand and helped her across the river. As he set off back across the river, he said, “All part of the service.” Nice!
Dovedale Walk - following map guide to walk: there it is!
Some way further into our walk there was a diversion marked on the map to some caves high on the hillside. Helen and Laura said they’d like to explore these so Mum and I say we’ll walk on and they can catch us up. Later Helen and Laura tell us the cave system was quite extensive and they were able to go quite some way into them. Some photographs that Laura took show just what they meant (link ???).
Dovedale Walk - Milldale - "Difficult path : impassable after heavy rain"
By the time we reached Milldale, the furthest point on our walk, we were all quite tired and glad of the opportunity to purchase an ice cream and drink which we consumed sat by the river. We hadn’t brought lunch with us, so this was a much as we’d get to eat till we were able to return to our car. As we were having such a splendid day I decided to get myself a fridge magnet to commemorate the occasion of our visit to Dovedale.
Dovedale Walk - river baptism ceremony
As we approached the final stretch of our return walk we noticed crowds of people by the river, and one group had members standing in the water. It was then that we realised that a group baptism by immersion was taking place, and that was what we were witnessing. A loud cheer from the group went up each time someone was immersed the act of which completed their baptism.
Ilam Park (NT)
On reaching the car, we settled on the short drive to Ilam Park (NT) as a place to eat our belated lunch, since there was a park there with grass terraces. Laura managed to stumble to the ground here, her foot slipping into a hole in the grass. We only snacked here, since our plan was to have a barbecue that night.
Ilam Park - Vauxhall Wyvern c.1956
There was this lovely old Vauxhall Wyvern parked in the car park. This car was produced circa 1956 apparently, deduced from seeing this advertising poster.
The sun was shining and the evening warm for our barbecue back at the Hideaway. We put Laura in charge of the cooking whilst Helen helped with the preparations and I attended to the chickens. Well, someone had to do this. It was rather fun having the chickens come to watch what we were doing. Helen explored what they might eat and I think she found crushed breakfast cereal was a favourite with them.
Monday 25th July: Sherwood Forest and Kedleston Hall
Sherwood Forest - Major Oak (oldest oak in the forest at 800-1,000 years)
On first arriving at Sherwood Forest we followed a trail that would take us to Major Oak. The tree is thought to be at least 800 years old. A number of its branches are now propped up as if on crutches, understandable enough when you consider its age.
Sherwood Forest - husk of a tree with Helen standing in it and Laura climbing on it
After Major Oak we picked up a trail through the woods passing Central Oak and then looping back to the visitor centre. Of course Helen and Laura, who have never really grown up, couldn’t pass up the opportunity for a little fooling around (see photo left)!
We ate our lunch on a bench, I bought my obligatory fridge magnet and a couple of souvenir pens for Helen and Laura, and then we were on our way again.
Kedleston Hall (NT) - the imposing Marble Hall
This time our destination was Kedleston Hall (NT). We were a little bit rushed viewing this property, arriving only a couple of hours before it was due to close. We did however do the tour of the whole house, including the amazing entrance hall as featured in the film The Duchess. The grounds of the house and the impressive Palladian bridge were also used in the film. We were however ushered, politely of course, through the last few rooms of the tour, by a small army of stewards we collected through these rooms. And we failed to see the gardens as they’d just closed as we came out the house. Unfortunate that, as they were featured in the BBC version of Pride and Prejudice and it would have been interesting to have seen them.
Kedleston Hall (NT) - a Palladian mansion
Helen was frustrated at the fact that we hadn’t more time for Keddleston Hall, but as is typical for me, I’d tried to do too much in one day. Keddleston Hall really did warrant more time than we gave it.
That night we watched the Robin Hood film on DVD starring Kevin Costner. We were all agreed that is the best Robin Hood film to-date, and Helen had been lucky in seeking out a second-hand copy of the DVD just before we were due to holiday. It was a lovely way to finish our Sherwood Forest themed day.
Tuesday 26th July: Drive: Buxton and Lyme Park
Buxton - open street market - sweet stall - Mum needs consoling with some Dolly Mixtures as she's just heard Jaffa passed away at the weekend
My sister Wendy had attempted to ring Mum at breakfast but our accommodation had very little mobile phone network coverage and hence we failed to pick up the call. I feared the worst, and was later proven right, as Mum rang Wendy from Buxton to discover that their dog Jaffa, who’d Mum had looked after on many occasions, had indeed passed away on Sunday. He was however very nearly 16 years old, and even for a Yorkshire Terrier, that was a pretty good innings. Helen bought Mum a packet of dolly mixtures at a street stall as consolation (see photo right).
Buxton - Buxton Opera House - Frank Matcham's Edwardian masterpiece
I hadn’t expected Buxton to be such a pretty place as it evidently was. It really is a little oasis of civility amongst a rather rugged rural landscape. I suppose this is fitting considering it was once a thriving spa town. It has some similarities with Bath, even down to having a Georgian crescent, although of a more diminutive scale to that of Bath. There is a rather lovely landscaped park which is where the opera (yes, opera!) house is to be found.
Buxton - Pavilion Gardens
We also came across the Pavilion Gardens Ballroom which is housed in a large glass building with a domed roof. We peeked in through the windows and glimpsed dancing taking place. A couple standing next to us explained that what we were watching was ‘sequence dancing’. Apparently you have to learn the particular steps of each sequence before you can join in, although the one we watched didn’t appear very complex.
Buxton - Pavilion Gardens - time for a snack lunch of sausage rolls and cakes
After a stroll around the park we headed for the town with a view to purchasing a pasty, which was hard to come by, believe it or not. We had to settle for sausage rolls and a cake each, which did however make for a tasty lunch. I then fetched the car and we set off for our next destination which was Lyme Park (NT).
Unfortunately photography is not permitted in the house of Lyme Park, I think because many of the pieces within the house are not owned by the National Trust. For this reason we have no photographs of the interior, only a few of the exterior, and those not the best facade which would have been from the gardens, which were unfortunately closed by the time we finished our tour of the house.
After Lyme Park we had to search out a filling station as we were short on fuel. Once we had filled up we picked up our scenic tour route which took us back in the direction of The Hideaway.
Wednesday 27th July: Walk: The Roaches
Today was to be our big walk day. As this wouldn’t be suitable for Mum, she was happy to have a day off and relax about The Hideaway. We didn’t have a definite route for our walk. Our guide book made reference to The Roaches which was a sandstone outcrop not far from one we’d noticed on our drive home the previous day. We decided we’d make that our destination. As we needed a map to navigate by we drove into Ashbourne to visit the Tourist Information Centre. It just so happened that the had a leaflet describing The Roaches walk which we picked up along with an Ordnance Survey Explorer 24 map.
Footbridge over tributary of the River Dane
It wasn’t too long a drive before we reached our start car park and we were soon out walking. Our path took us down a lane into woods along a path, across a footbridge (see photo), and then the path began to climb up through trees. Eventually we emerged onto heath land with only a little more altitude to gain to reach our highest point on The Roaches.
Helen and Laura, on The Roaches
The day was overcast but reasonably warm, with just a bit of a breeze to keep us cool; ideal walking conditions. The only thing that wasn’t ideal was the number of flies of the small midge variety which swarmed about us and particularly plagued us as we stopped to eat our lunch. Helen buried her head in her jacket in an attempt to keep them off. I think we were all bitten many times; I certainly was.
Tittesworth Reservoir
After The Roaches there was quite a dramatic scramble down from the ridge into surrounding farm land. We were walking in the direction of a reservoir that we’d seen in the distance throughout our walk. We decide that our route is so close to this that we should take a short detour to take a closer look at it. Although a large reservoir of water the dam seemed to consist of little more than some rubble strewn across the valley to hold in the water.
The Lazy Trout, Meerbrook, and Helen and Laura
From the reservoir we walked back to the nearby village of Meerbrook where I had just enough money to buy each of us a drink and a packet of crisps at The Lazy Trout pub. This, and a short break, was a wonderful tonic, leaving us feeling fit and ready to continue with the rest of our walk. We did of course have the long climb back up to The Roaches before we could begin the descent to where our car was parked.
Lud's Church - natural rock cleft near Gradbach
As we came down off The Roaches I suggested we take an alternative route through the woods, a route that would take us close to Lud’s Church, whatever that was. We very nearly didn’t take the detour up to the ‘church’, but we did, with Helen urging us on, and we were glad we did. This is a geological feature, a ravine, which apparently was caused by a landslip, age unknown, but thought to have been post-glacial. This landslip has left a huge chasm that is dark, damp and rather eyrie, reminding me of the ravine in the new King Kong film that the expedition is chased down by rampaging dinosaurs, but that’s probably my imagination running riot. We saw no dinosaurs!
Walk Statistics:
Total Distance: 12.8 miles
Moving Time: 5hrs 29min
Stopped Time: 2hrs 15min
Total Ascent: 808 metres
Maximum Elevation: 513 metres
Thursday 28th July: Stainsby Mill (Hardwick Estate) and The Workhouse (NT)
Hardwick Hall (NT)
On our way to Stainsby Mill (NT) we stopped off at the car park of Hardwick Hall (NT) to use the toilets. This was potentially a mistake, as the exterior visible from the outside looked intriguing, but we had to be strict with ourselves, and accept that in one week we weren’t going to do everything; so, something for another time. We made our way back to Stainsby Mill which looked charming and quaint in the morning sunshine.
Stainsby Mill (NT) on the Hardwick Hall estate
What is interesting about Stainsby Mill is that it is a fully operational water-powered mill for the milling of cereal crops. Everything that takes place within the mill is powered by either water or human effort. That being the case there are some surprising levels of automation within the mill such as regulated feed from the hopper ‘jiggled’ by the shaft of the grinding wheel as it turns. And there’s a bell that rings when the feed hopper is nearing empty (see photo left). The mill had a ‘refit’ during Victorian times when such embellishments as these were introduced. Apparently, once ‘automated’ in this fashion, the mill required only one man and perhaps a boy helper to operate it.
Stainsby Mill (NT) on the Hardwick Hall estate
Milling operations were running at a slow pace on the morning of our visit because someone had forgotten to open the sluice gate to feed water from the Hardwick Estate ponds into the millpond, therefore the flow of water was much reduced from normal levels. All the stewards at Stainsby Mill were friendly and enthusiastically informative about the working of the mill which made our visit all the more interesting.
The Workhouse (NT), Southwell - one of the segregated exercise yards
Having completed our visit to Stainsby Mill, our next port of call was to be The Workhouse, Southwell (NT). This was a place that Mum had mentioned she would like to visit on this holiday, since her father was born in the workhouse in Exeter.
The Workhouse (NT), Southwell - room used as a refuge for unmarried Mums during the 70s
The Workhouse was used continuously right up to the ‘60s when it was used as a place of refuge for young mothers without a husband to support them. One of the rooms is fitted out just as it would have appeared in the ‘60s when it was used for this purpose. Other than this The Workhouse is just a shell of a building but for all that it still manages to evoke a strong sense of the life led by the inmates of such an institution.
The men, women and children were all severely segregated, and the men and women are further segregated into groups of able bodied and infirm. At some time in The Workhouse’s history a separate hospital building was added so that the sick could be kept isolated from those inmates that were well. This came about as a result of a criticism during one of the inspections conducted by a national inspectorate, saying that the sick and well were in too close proximity to each other.
There are some basic facts that need to be understood when contemplating how one feels about such places. Firstly, people were there because they wished to be there. Admittedly there were probably referrals from the community at large, but there was no obligation to stay. Secondly, it was more costly to care for someone in a workhouse than in the home, therefore first choice was always to keep a person in their home wherever possible. Workhouses were not welcoming, and were never meant to be. And yet at the same time workhouses provided shelter and meals for those unfortunate enough to find they were in need of these basic essentials of life. Overall we came away with the feeling that workhouses were grim places, but they were a necessary step in the provision of basic welfare to those in need.
Both the Stainsby Mill and The Workhouse provided a welcome change from the stately homes that we had been visiting.
The Hideaway, Mapleton, our cabin for the week's holiday - pancake eating
That evening we had a pancake supper back in The Hideaway, our cabin residence for the week. We threw open the doors to the cabin and let the sun shine in; it was a gorgeous evening. Later that evening we rounded off the day by watching the film Those Magnificent Men in Their Flying Machines; “Firsta Classa!”
Friday 29th July: Chatsworth House
Chatsworth was always on our list of places to visit. We had a sense that we were leaving the best to last, and that certainly proved the case. The house and gardens are awe inspiring.
As we drove into the car park we could see that this was a very popular destination; there were hundreds of cars. Our plan which we had quickly formulated was to take in the gardens and then return to the car early for our picnic lunch, and then visit the house immediately after lunch.
Chatsworth - gardens - huge sweet pea displays
We began our exploration of the gardens by walking through the kitchen gardens. These are far more than just vegetable gardens as they’re frequently interspersed with flowers of various kinds, including a series of large displays of sweet peas.
Chatsworth - gardens - the Cascade Fountain
We climbed towards the top of the gardens and followed a path that would take us in the direction of one of the main fountains. To conserve water the fountains are only run at certain times of the day, and we were approaching one of those times. We stood at the head of the 300 year old Cascade Fountain inspecting our watches. We were not disappointed. At the allotted hour the water began to spout from the fountains and cascade down the many steps that ran all the way down the hillside towards the house. This is one very impressive waterfall. I’ve seen similar layouts on house plans such as the one at Dyrham Park (NT) we visited in September 2010 but this is the first time that I’ve actually seen one in the flesh.
Chatsworth - gardens - the Emperor Fountain: the fountain is fed by water pressure alone, and can jet to 90 m
From here we dropped down through the garden following the course of a stream that took us past a lake on the hillside. Eventually we came out at the main rectangular lake that is situated at the front of the house. This lake contains the grand Emperor Fountain, a vast jet of water, gravity fed, that shoots an enormous distance into the air.
By now it was time for lunch so we returned to our car. Rather than waste any time, and for convenience and comfort’s sake, we ate our lunch in the car. This meant that we were soon returning to the property for our tour of the house.
Chatsworth - house - the Painted Hall
I’ve been in quite a few grand stately homes in my time but nothing had prepared me for the grandeur and opulence of Chatsworth. Room after room is decorated in the most sumptuous manner. The hall with the stairs ascending through the centre is quite awesome (see photo left). Then there is the library which is the largest private library I've ever seen; it's warm colour of wood just invites you to enter and browse the multitude of books on the shelves. It’s hard to put into words all that we saw, so it’s probably best to explore some of the photos we took.
Chatsworth - house - the Green Bedroom - perfect!
There’s just one final word I want to say about Chatsworth. Despite the fact all the rooms we saw were amazing, one room for me stood out above all the rest. That room being the Green Bedroom. Now here was an example of the most refined high taste!
Helen kindly bought me a fridge magnet to add to my collection. She’s making a habit of doing this these days, lest I forget.
If you’ve watched the film The Duchess and are wondering where the scenes are that were filmed at this property, try viewing the deleted scenes on your DVD. For some unaccountable reason quite a number of scenes filmed here at Chatsworth have ended up on the cutting room floor (as was).
Saturday 30th July: Drop Helen at Heathrow and then drive back to Exeter
Sounds easier than it was. The traffic on the M25 was horrendous! Still, we made it, somehow. We said our sad goodbyes to Helen then headed off back to Exeter.
Tuesday 2nd August: Just had to mention this. Laura and Mum were off on a visit to Wendy and Colin in Thurloxton. On their way Laura wanted to get some things in Tesco, so they stop off en route. Laura takes the opportunity to buy me a present, a very big toothbrush! Well, a toilet brush to be more precise. I’d broken mine a few days previously and Laura saw the opportunity to give me something to remember her by. So yes, every time I look out in the garden I’m reminded of Helen by the pots she’d planted up this summer, and every time I clean the toilet I’m reminded of Laura. :-)
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