Spring Blows In . . .

April remained pretty cool on the whole, and brought with it some windy weather, but also a fair amount of sunshine.

May - more of the same - for the most part could have been a tad warmer - and some more really windy weather, but at least we saw some sunshine.

An Attempt to Depict Hafod

A sunny Sunday took us out to Hafod for an afternoon walk.

Decided we'd tackle the Gentleman's Walk, and headed out past Hawthorne Cottage (where we spotted a toad by the pool), past the site of Hafod itself and over the Alpine Bridge.


Took the upper route of the Gentleman's Walk - some lovely views, but some sections were a bit narrow and steep.

One section off the path takes you up to the Cavern Cascade, a bit of a muddy scramble still, but interesting to feel your way through the tunnel to the waterfall at the end.

On the way back had a look at the newly restored Mrs Johnes' Garden - the plants need some time to establish, but it should look really pretty in time, and the setting is lovely.

All in all a lovely afternoon, and much more still to see.

Got There In The End!

We'd always planned to add a shower over the bath in the upstairs bathroom, it just took us a while . . .

Bought tiles * - 3 December 2011

Bought shower - 4 December 2011

Shower electrics / extractor fan fitted - 6 December 2011

Bought more tiles - 31 May 2012

Tiling work done - 19 November 2012

Shower fitted - 7 December 2012

Bought shower screen - 26 December 2012

Shower screen fitted - 9 May 2013


Done!

* The bath area was only tiled up to the patterned border, and we couldn't match the tiles below - ended up buying some cheap white tiles of the same width (then we worked out we were a few short first time round, and  they'd stopped making those tiles too - luckily we managed to find a leftover box!).  Now it's finished it looks good - almost as though  it was planned that way!

In the Peak

Had a few days off at the end of April / early May and took ourselves off to the Peak District - last time we were there was in the middle of the Foot and Mouth outbreak in 2001 so there were lots of places then that we couldn't go.

Based ourselves in Bakewell - where Martin was blown away by the number and size of the fish in the river - and I was rather taken by a coot crossing the river by footbridge.

Got some 'history' in - Bolsover Castle (an English Heritage property) with its links to the Cavendish family, and the painted walls and ceilings of its 'Little Castle':

And walked the Monsal Trail - a pleasant enough 8.5 miles in the sunshine, and the railway tunnels were interesting, although Martin did note we could have done it in no time at all on bikes!

Then it was back to Hardwick Hall ('more glass than wall') - some 12 years to the day after our last visit in 2001.

Fascinating property, built by the phenomenon that was 'Bess of Hardwick', who from relatively modest beginnings rose to be the second richest woman in England (after Queen Elizabeth I) whose descendents became Dukes of Devonshire and Newcastle.

The house itself is full of symbolic plasterwork, a renowned textile collection, and a real sense of the Tudor era.


Finally, on our way home, we visited Lyme Park (the location for Pemberley in the BBC's adaptation of Pride and Prejudice).  Must admit the house wasn't as memorable as some, but the lake took me right back to Mr Darcy's wet shirt moment!