Kedleston Hall, Brailsford, Matlock, And Chatsworth Farm Shop

Today has been the last day of the Heritage Open Days scheme for this year and I was able to visit Kedleston Hall, a few miles north west of Derby, with my support worker. The weather was lovely and I was able to get some good photographs of the gardens and the exteriors of the church and the hall.

On the way back home we called in for lunch at a pub in Brailsford, although this wasn't on our intended route home. We also planned to visit Matlock Bath but both of the car parks were full and so we continued on to the town of Matlock and looked in the charity shops there. The last photo is the only one I took there.

We made one final stop, at the Chatsworth Farm Shop at Pilsley.

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.

Lodge Moor, Ringinglow, Whirlow, and Abbeydale Industrial Hamlet

It's Heritage Open Days this week when many historic sites have free admission. Today it was free to visit the Abbeydale Industrial Hamlet, somewhere I'd never visited previously, and so I planned a walk which would finish off with a visit there.

I travelled to the bus terminus at Lodge Moor - it was possibly the worst bus journey I've ever experienced. The bus was full to capacity, mainly with children going to school, the traffic in Sheffield city centre was gridlocked and we didn't move at all for several minutes. When the bus stopped to let off one solitary passenger the driver didn't allow anyone else to get on; one of the older children waiting at the bus stop swore at the driver and then kicked and punched the bus. At two more stops further along the route the driver wouldn't let people on because their passes weren't valid, and so more arguments, abuse, and delay followed...and then, to cap it all, a large disabled woman in a rather heavy motorised scooter got on the bus. It took her a long time to manoeuvre her vehicle into a secure spot, even moreso because she had several bags hanging off at the side which kept getting caught on things. I was ready for some walking when I got off that bus.

I walked across to Ringinglow, unfortunately quite a bit of the way was along the road.

According to the toposcope on Fulwood Lane, situated at 1055 foot above sea level the most distant landmark you're able to see from there is Lincoln Cathedral, 43 miles away. I definitely couldn't make it out on the horizon; I think it would need exceptionally clear visibility to do so.

I headed down Limb Valley and hoped to find the path that goes across the fields to Hathersage Road. I found the path alright but then followed two women with six dogs through the woods and ended coming out at Whirlowbrook Hall. I could still easily reach the Abbeydale Industrial Village from here though, I just had to walk a little further down Limb Lane.

I spent about half an hour looking round the industrial hamlet and then went in the cafe for a pot of tea and a toasted teacake - the service was rather slow.

It was quite a short walk today; I didn't know how long I'd need to spend at the industrial hamlet and so didn't want to get there too late in the afternoon...and this has been my fourth walk in five days and so I wanted to take things a bit easy.

On my way back to railway station at Sheffield I called at the Moor Market for some scones and some salmon bellies.