August began as August's should with the installation of the water meter.
This was swiftly followed, two days later, by the arrival of the skip which to this day (20th August) still decorates our front garden.
However, things got better. On a lovely warm Saturday we headed for Hadden Hall to use our 'two for one' garden entrance voucher. Generously the ticket admitted us to the hall as well as the gardens.
As you cross the bridge there is a splendid view of the hall on the other side of the River Wye.
We had decided not to spend money on food and drink and so we found a bench by the river. The river was swollen with the recent rains, but today the sun shone.
The hall is reached by several flights of steps. At the top of the outside flight a guide stops everyone to issue a dire warning about the very worn state of the remaining steps and floors.
Before entering the house we looked into the chapel and were impressed by the wall art.
The courtyard buildings and the house look very castle-like, but the building is actually a semi-fortified manor house.
When you enter the house it is hard to believe that it is the home of the Manners family, but they take over once the visitors have gone. The room that is the best indicator of their presence is the very magnificent billiard room that shows obvious signs of use. Everything is very grand.
While we were there the long gallery was being set up for a civil ceremony.
The gardens are a riot of colour and form. Apparently an effort has been made by the head garden to use plants that would have been available in Tudor times. Here are few garden shots.
Sitting on Queen Elizabeth II's bench was a must.
Being on top of a hill in Derbyshire guaranteed splendid views. I was impressed by the view of the River Wye; in particular by the stone foot bridge across it.
Autumn arrived early. The wind and the rain arrived with a vengeance. However, we were able to do one more walk along the canal after church. Previously we had attempted, unsuccessfully, to park near to Tapton Lock. Today, after our picnic, we set off to walk to the visitor centre. We had not got far when a few drops of rain fell. Manfully we walked on. The flowers looked past their best with many already going to seed.
Just as we got to the lock the rain came, but it was brief and we got back to the car dry.
The next day the most disruptive work on the bungalow began.
The plumber arrived. In a short space of time all the fittings in the bathroom
were ripped out and de-tiling began. I have to say that Reagan is a
professional and a gentleman and kept disruption to a minimum. By the end of
the day we had the new toilet connected up and sitting on boards with a screwdriver
operated tap next to up for filling up the bucket.
Part way through the bathroom installation the shed arrived. It had been ordered to be erected on the second week of July. My first phone call to get through was to one of the 'lads'. He told me that the boss was in hospital recovering from an ME attack. A week later, on the Friday that I had expected delivery, I rang again. I asked 'How are you?' to which the reply was 'In a panic'. I was told by the boss that one of the lads had just cut his thumb off and that both of them were at 'Kings mill Hospital' and that he had six sheds to deliver to Bolsover council and that the lad who had cut his thumb off was the driver. Fortunately the injury was not as bad as it first appeared, so our two workers turned up with shed on Monday morning and did a great job.
The tiler arrived. He had been on holiday and arrived back with a fluey cold. He had the help of Cameron and through coughs and sneezes put in a good days work. The following day Steve was no better. On top of this it was wet and Cameron had gone off to hospital to have a wisdom tooth removed. On Wednesday Steve turned up alone again and no better. Cameron had not recovered. Steve felt the pressure to complete the work by the end of Wednesday. He had to go home to rest and come back later. We assured him that we were not in a hurry but he needed to be ready for when Regan, the plumber, arrived on Thursday.
Steve did complete his work and Regan turned up and was under his own pressure to get us up and running with a working toilet and shower so that he could go off for his birthday weekend treat on Friday. He did what he set out to do.
After church we had our usual picnic. This time at the Staveley car park on the Chesterfield Canal. Right next to the car was a grass path with blackberries growing at either side. Picking did not take long and and we had a short walk to the footbridge and back. We noticed that there was a ribbon between the path and the canal. We kinda figured that the canal had overflowed due to the torrential rain of last night. This was confirmed when we met council workers walking towards us removing the barrier.
Steve turned up on Sunday evening for a friendly visit. Steve is one of those 'non-stop' guys. He tiles on three days of the week, works in the office of a care company he runs with his son, he is the England Pool Champion and in his spare time he draws. Not only does he draw but he sells his work at shows such as the 'Bakewell Show'. He left us one of drawings of the 'Crooked Spire' as a gift. We have an open invitation to visit him for coffee at is Staveley Hall property.
Regan returned on Tuesday. He had been to an open air concert in Leeds with his wife. Apparently he had never got so wet. Fifty thousand people were packed together and umbrellas were not allowed.
By the end of the day we had a beautiful fitted shower room.
On Wednesday we had a visit from Marjorie and Margaret (two of our old friends from Stapleford). We had lunch at the Arkwright Arms. It turned out to be a good place to eat. It was not far away. It had good parking. It had a menu which included two pages of mains as well as whole page of different chip cobs. Two examples were the Hawaiian which had pineapple and the French which had brie.
The weather forecast was good so we set off for the 'Longshaw Lodge Estate'. Our aim was to walk amongst the heather. The day started well but the wind was stronger and colder than we expected.
We soldiered on up the gully which is a great natural garden.
Crossing the road to 'Surprise View' car park we carried on up the track towards 'Mother Cap'.
As we sat to have our picnic clouds appeared from our right. Eating my apple on the way down, the clouds became rain and so, slightly damp we got back to the car.
From this point the weather began to improve do that by our anniversary on Saturday the sky was blue and the temperatures were on the up. Saturday turned out to be the hottest 'August Bank Holiday' day on record with temperatures in the low 30s.
For our 51st anniversary we opted to go to Buxton. The main draw was the 'Derbyshire Artists' exhibition. It did not disappoint us.
For our meal we had picked out a Thai restaurant which was 5 minutes walk away. The food was delicious as was the Thai beer.
Lunch over we went on to the find the Pavilion Gardens to see art there. We passed by the 'Devonshire Dome'.
The dome was built in 1779. It is bigger than St Paul's and is said to be the biggest unsupported dome in Europe. It is now part of the University of Derby. Before entering the gardens we went by the Buxton Opera House. it is a magnificent building.
The plants in the conservatory had been enhanced by art work from the local school children.
Having not found an art exhibition we bought ice creams and joined the holiday crowd enjoying the sun.
With time to spare I decided that we would walk on to 'Poole's Cavern and Buxton Country Park'. The Cavern was a real 'cherry on the icing' part of our special day. With borrowed jacket we entered the portal. The experience is beyond description. The rock formation and the sound of the River Wye running along side our underground path was something not to be missed.
At the entrance to the cave was a petrified bird's nest. This was an example of a Victorian trick. In Victorian times visitors were told that they could have an object petrified quickly by placing it in a petrifying bowl in the cave. In fact they used a calcium product from the quarries above.
The next day was our usual Sunday. we had a fun service because part of it was being in groups making up snacks which we shared together. There was message (I think).
But we had more food as we stopped for a picnic at the 'Peter Fidler' nature reserve. This time we made the whole circuit before returning home.
Today it is 'August Bank Holiday Monday'. I have done some little jobs, painted inside the airing cupboard and suffered the blazing sun and heat to cut the grass. As I write there are just a few fair weather clouds.
The following day was one of the two days that we could eat outside this year. It was so hot that we sacrificed our privacy and carried our food passed the ever present neighbours.
On almost the last day of August there was time for one more visit. Clumber Park is that much nearer and easier to get to than when we lived in Stapleford. First we visited the sunken gardens to be greeted by a zany pair of staff members.
In fact they were not so zany. The lady member of staff had just replaced the posy of flowers that she uses to put on their shrine to the Clumber Park gardeners that died in the Second World War.
Entrance to the walled garden is always through the enormous conservatory.
Having been invited in to see the shrine, I appreciated the gardeners' office and the collection of plant pots.
I like the paths and arches which make up a walled garden.
Then, of course, there are the beautiful flowers.
We had our beverages and cake near the car park and then went down to the visitor centre. In the centre was collection of local art work.
I opted, then, to walk to the old bridge. First we passed some amazing fungi. Strangely, the trees here gave our first glimpse of Autumn with freshly fallen golden leaves on the ground.
It was sad to see the old bridge. About a year ago vandals had set about damaging the lovely old structure. Work was going on to restore it to its former glory.
Just below the bridge is a weir and I cannot resist trying to capture the movement of such water. Here is my effort, without a tripod, at a slow shutter speed.
The walk goes on through wood until there is an open meadow area with a view across the lake to buildings. Here we sat to have our picnic and draw the view from this spot.
With time to spare we walked on to complete the whole circuit of the lake.
At end the day we had a visit from the builder who was going to start work on the extension on 9th September.
Saturday bought our first summer here to an end.
