Apple Picking At Cusworth Hall

A visit to one of the local attractions that's open and is free admission as part of the Heritage Open Days scheme. I've been to Cusworth Hall and the parkland many times, it's only a couple of miles or so from my house but I've never seen the walled garden before so I was looking forward to this....it's only open for a few days a year.

The walled garden was larger and better maintained than I was expecting; this building that I thought might be a dovecote was actually the pavilion for the bowling green - I was able to go inside and read about it.

A couple of fig trees were hidden away in the far corner.

There was a pleasant surprise for me before leaving, we were able to go into the orchard and pick apples for free; I took two from each tree. Eaach tree was labelled with the variety of apple it was and each one was different and so I ended up with a carrier bag containing probably two dozen different varieties of dessert apples...I know someone who will be able to make use of them.

I had intended to walk across the fields to Sprotbrough and then return back to Doncaster going along the river but my bag was too heavy and so I just took the shortest route back home.

Heritage Open Days in Doncaster

I should have posted this link earlier since it's already started, but anyhow, here it is -

Heritage Open Days Events in Doncaster 2025 

I'm planning to go to Cusworth Hall Walled Garden tomorrow, the weather is forecast to be fine until mid-afternoon. Next week there are two more local events I'd like to attend, Bawtry Hall and Gardens, and Hooton Pagnell Hall gardens and tithe barn.

Stainforth, Kirk Bramwith, Barnby Dun, and Kirk Sandall

Another local walk today, arranged at short notice because of the nice weather, I caught the bus to Stainforth church; there are no photos of the church because it's a severe, unattractive Victorian building.

I made my way over to the canal towpath and headed south back towards Doncaster, briefly leaving the route to visit the churches at Kirk Bramwith and Barnby Dun. I finally left the towpath at Kirk Sandall church but then had to walk through a couple of industrial estates to get to a bus stop on Thorne Road to catch a bus going back into town. This always spoils this canal walk, I wish there was a way to continue all the way to the canal basin at the edge of the town centre.

Revolver Maps

I've only just found out that Revolver Maps was closed down in April and so I've installed a new stats application, of course the count has been re-set to zero.

Ladybower Reservoir and Heatherdene

I travelled to the Ladybower Inn bus stop and looped around the northern arm of Ladybower Reservoir walking in an anticlockwise direction. Despite some recent heavy rainfall the water level in the reservoir is still quite low.

I caught the bus back to Sheffield at Heatherdene, just a few hundred yards from where I started this morning; I'd got time to go to the toilet and get a lemon lolly.