May Time

Elvaston Castle

Through May there was a sort of bit of sunshine and the other stuff, but warmth was increasing. By the end of the middle of the month the allotment was well dug, the potatoes were showing and Irene was sowing seed and planting out. The temperature fell towards the end of May.

On the 7th we had an opportunity to take up our friends, Paul and Mary's, invitation to walk from their bungalow in Borrowash to Elvaston Castle. This would be followed by lunch in their home and then to help them with some gardening. The morning was generally bright and so off we set. The gardening never happened as the rain started after lunch.

Elvaston Castle is really only a country house set in parkland.

 We walked through the woods and came across streams. Here is a reflection of a red lichen covered log.

Further on we came to bird life and our first encounter this year of young waterbirds, starting with this photo of a moorhen.

Returning to the castle we came across a bright garden where azaleas and rhododendrons were in bloom. This was our inspiration for next week's visit.

  In the same area were wood carvings where Irene sat to have tea.

This was our inspiration to go on to the castle and find the tea room.

After refreshments we went on through the gardens and out by the lake to see more young waterbirds.

The clouds were gathering, but it still continued to be dry and warm as we walked back along the road to Borrowash, the hedgerows full of colour.

Last of the Summer Wine?

 There was still more signs of spring as we passed a field of cows and calves.

The River Derwent was beautiful at this point and ran close to the railway cutting. This indicates the geography of the area as a through route.

Lea Gardens and Crich Stand

For some unaccountable reason we went out on the following Thursday when the sky was much bluer. This was the follow up to the few rhododendrons at Elveston. It was Paul and Mary's wedding anniversary and we took them with us.

This was the second time we had been to Lea Gardens near Matlock. The first time was in 2012 after our extended stay in NZ. Then we went in June as the blossoms were coming to an end. This time the blossoms were are their best.

After coffee, which was without cake, we entered the garden going through a stone arch in a stone wall that had beautiful flowers growing out of it. Apparently the cakes the ladies had seen were of the most delicious variety, but the ladies had Paul's welfare at heart. 

 Once inside their was a good photo opportunity to produce something for our friend's anniversary.

I printed it and put it in a frame. Paul said that it was the best photograph that he had of himself. In fact I presented it to them the following evening at the dance. I did mean to embarrass them as I called them out to lead everyone in a waltz.

There was so much colour. Even the white blooms were brilliant.

 At one point Paul came across a dog. It looks as if the lady is afraid that Paul is going to hit it with my tripod. We do not get embarrassed when Paul does off-the-wall things.

In the pond we spied newts. This albino one stood out.

 Most of the garden allows for circular walks but one goes up to the highest point were there is a fixed seat and a swing seat. Once again Irene was not too comfortable on the swing seat. I still do not know how she managed the swing bridge over the Buller Gorge.

From this point there is a great view over the top of the garden to the countryside beyond.

Back down it was time to return to the seat that was surrounded by gunnera. Back in 2012 it was the first time that I had been photographed in my Kiwi hat. Now the hat returned with the addition of two friends.

On the way out of the garden we spied a rather dinky mini.

In the same way as we had done 2 years ago we made our way into Crich and to the bakery known as the 'Loaf'. We had enjoyed the salads there before. Paul spied pork pie. There was no pork pie. He ordered something else. That too was off. Eventually we were all able to enjoy a pleasant meal.

Next we made our way to Crich Stand. This is a regimental memorial and this time it was open and we could pay the staggering sum of 20p each to go up. There certainly are commanding views.

One of the pictures shows a tram from the Tramway Museum going by the quarry. Tonight (28th) we discovered that low level nuclear waste is buried there and local villagers are protesting about the plan to build houses on the site.

 After a final picture of the wise three it was time to go home. 

Kedleston Hall

Last year this was the second trip we made as new members of the National Trust. We chose Kedleston as we did not want to be far away. I was expecting to take delivery of the polling booths for the hall in the afternoon.

It was a sunny morning with blue skies but the grass was very wet from the continuing, frequent rain. We arrived too early for refreshments and so we went a walk around the back of the hall until we could see the very symmetrical view of the hall.

 It was getting close to coffee time so we went back to the hall. We came to a courtyard which was beautifully hung with wisteria.

 From here we could see a strange sundial on the church. To it looked as if it could only indicate the time to 11.30 and it was one hour slow.

Checking up I found the following information from another blogger. http://www.geograph.org.uk/photo/3523834

'All Saints Church in the grounds of Kedleston Hall. A sundial, above which is a carved stone skull,bears the words "Wee Shail", which is said to mean " we shall soon (sun) die (dial), a sort of Memento Mori.'

As we were about to leave a young lady told us that she had just opened the church. It was very much a 'family church'. It had the tombs of passed family members, very private boxed in pews and sunken circular effigies of a type we had not seen before. Actually we still could not see them because of health and safety concerns.

The sun continued to shine and so we sat outside to enjoy our scones with jam and cream.

There was a magnificent view of the park from where we sat.

We had been given a list of walks and chose a short walk to the left of the bridge. It was simply a walk to where the water met the road and then back to the bridge along the other side.

On the way to the bridge I stopped to take one of my shots that had a short exposure time. This allows for good depth of focus but a tripod and remote are needed.

The reflections on the lake were stunning.

Our walk was through what is described as idyllic English country side. We passed calves hiding in the long grass, statuesque trees, lambs with their mothers and a large number of duck families.

 The day was a good use of National Trust membership, if only for car parking.

Saturday 24th

It was pouring with rain and we had to make our trip to Nan. We were escorted 35,000 Derby supporters on the M1. Flags and scarves festooned the cars and coaches. Some supporters stood on the motorway bridges waving flags at the vehicles below. I don't think that in all the years of travelling down the M1 we have seen such a site. Holiday traffic also joined the throng. We were only 15 minutes late and Derby lost by one goal scored by QPR in last minute.

Wednesday 28th

Again it poured with rain. I had an afternoon appointment at the hospital. We started our visit with a delicious muffin and coffee at the 'Muffin Break' in Broadmarsh. Then we went up to see the latest exhibition at the Nottingham Contemporary.

The exhibition was a collection of works from the Arts Council Collection and was called 'Somewhat Abstract'. We had several firsts. It was the first time we had seen the same exhibit in two different places. The first time we saw the chandelier flashing out a poem in Morse code was at Tate Modern Liverpool. We also saw our first Yoko Ono and it was the first time that we had seen work by Barbara Hepworth. http://www.tate.org.uk/art/artworks/hepworth-spring-t12278

After this we made our way through the pouring rain roughly in the direction of The Victoria Centre. By some strange coincidence we first came to Gee Dees and I was able to purchase some bits for the model.

Irene was able to purchase what she came for when we got to the centre. After sandwiches we legged it back to the coach station and on to the QMC. The examination showed that I had no retinal damage but was getting the signs of old age.

I had heard that one of my ex-pupils had become a bus driver. I'm not getting on this bus as I looked Reece Dunn in the eye. He actually drove very well and I felt quite proud of him for many reasons.

April Part 2

This date of Easter must surely be the latest on record but still the weather continues unsettled. Even today on 9th May there is blustery, cold, wet weather.

The sun managed to shine for the Good Friday service in the town centre. The band played and the people sang and then we went to church to eat a hot cross bun.

Our own Easter Sunday was much more low key but still we kept to our tradition of Easter eggs on the Easter table. Spot the difference.

The Brighton weekend came up. The main purpose was to spend some time with Joe and Julia and, as always, rain was not far away.

On our journey down we discovered that Greggs had started operating in motorway service stations. The offer was any cake and any coffee for £2.50. The man who came in after us did not spot the offer and paid £4.50. It was raining and so we consumed our cream filled doughnuts in the car. Next we stopped at Pease Pottage for a toilet stop before going to find our motel at Hickstead.

We entered Brighton to the accompaniment of rain. Having parked and got a parking permit from Julia we made our way to their new flat. Joe joined us shortly after we arrived. The flat is an improvement on their previous one. It is possible to walk around the main room, the kitchen is good and they have access through a proper bathroom into a small garden.

The rain continued and so we stayed in the flat to have a meal and then to play the families' favourite game of Chartbusters. 

At the end of the evening we made our way back to the Travel Lodge, first getting lost (even with a SATNav) in the one way system of the town. The rooms are much improved and the bed is comfortable and does not move when you lean against the headboard. After breakfast of porridge of the instant variety from Asda we returned to Brighton. We parked on their street once more. For some unaccountable reason the rain more or less stopped and we were able to walk into town.

We were heading for 'Waikikamukau'. This is a vegetarian restaurant. If you are interested in Kiwi the origin of the name then see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Waikikamukau. This is about as close to the truth as you will get. Our route was through an alley way of stalls and shops of the 'different' variety.

I was on the look out for a bright shirt for the summer. Once we had settled down in the restaurant Irene said that there were bright coloured shirts on the racks outside the shop. I was not long in finding and paying £3 for an attractive shirt.

After a filling lunch we made our way through the town to our first place of interest. (As if walking through the town was not interesting enough). We passed a sort of garden centre. Joe enjoyed the view of neighbouring alleys that he got by climbing up some steps.

At every turn there was a shop of interest.

I loved the long alley way which had small gardens opposite the row of terraced houses.

Eventually we arrived at the Toy Museum. This was a place that I have wanted to visit. It has featured on television and in my railway books. It is an amazing collection of things that went back in time beyond my childhood but include things from our older children's childhood. I did not know that Pelham Puppets had made a Harry Potter puppet before they finally closed.

After this we went to an exhibition at the art gallery. Local people had access to some London collections and they had made their own choices. It was an interesting selection. Particularly appealing was a painting of a lamb on a kitchen table with the farmer and is wife looking at it with some affection. It was obvious that later the lamb would be eaten.

On the way back to the flat we passed a strangely named shop and above was a strangely juxtaposed sign of a robber. I could not work out the significance.

Then we called into a greengrocer that had a very colourful display at the front.

After a great meal we settled down to play a train game.

Once more we badly negotiated the one-way system but got back to another night at the Travel Lodge. We had hoped to meet Joe and Julia at a nearby National Trust gardens but as we left the hotel the rain came once more. We had a pleasant morning in their flat before heading home.

Our lunch stop was at Cobham Services. We had seen this being built. It was one of the more modern ones. The main food hall was maintained by MacDonalds but around it was a number of eateries. Once more we found good food at Greggs and after afternoon refreshments at Watford gap got back home.

On the 30th the weather was reasonable and so off we set to Clumber Park. It is a little while since we had been there and found that in many places the permitted speed had been reduced. We were not sure that it was the local park that people from Stapleford seem to make it out to be.

Last time we went we were not members of the National Trust and so we missed out on visiting the walled garden. This time we intended to make a visit to it, but after refreshments in the cafe.

After this we popped into the visitors centre which displayed much of the wildlife that could be found around the park grounds. One recorded sound was that of the cuckoo and I thought that the last day of April might be too early to here a real one.

As we were at the car getting ready to go off on our walk I spied a lady that I knew. Parked only a few car away were our friends Margaret and Derrick. They were spending a week away at the nearby Thorsby Hall.

Recently I had had a discussion with another friend who had noticed that whenever he parked his car other people parked next to him. I noticed it too. I deliberately parked in the middle of the car park and when we came back from the cafe we were surrounded by other cars despite there being a lot of room in more convenient parts of the car park.

Off we set to the walled garden. It is one of the most impressive ones that I have seen. Along one side was one of the longest lean-to green-houses we have seen and some of the largest tool and potting sheds.

It was mainly a kitchen garden. The apple blossom was almost fully out. Exactly a week later the local BBC station chose to feature the apples here on their programme.

The BBC did not mention that as well as apples there were 121 varieties of rhubarb. They did not make for interesting photography but the vivid coloured flowers did.

 We had our picnic in the woodland area where a disappointed squirrel came to be fed.

Then we miss-judged the time and the length of our walk as we set off; first to find bluebells and then to cross to the other side of the lake.

 Eventually we reached the bridge.

We reached a good view of all the buildings of Clumber Park and then we heard the cuckoo. This must have been the earliest that we have heard. I think that last year was the first time I had one for some years.

 Inspired by this and despite time running out on us we walked a little further and came upon the temple.

It is a little disappointing from close-up and not the magnificent structure that can be seen from the opposite bank.