Edensor, Beeley in Bloom [Open Gardens] and Rowsley

My first visit to an Open Gardens event this summer. I got off the bus at Edensor, which had its Open Gardens last weekend, but I didn't attend because of the unpleasant weather. I spent a few minutes taking photographs in the village, it was still quite chilly this early in the morning and so I went to the Tea Cottage for a pot of tea to warm me up.  I then headed south through Chatsworth Park to Beeley.

After spending not much more than an hour enjoying what was happening at Beeley my left knee gave way as I was looking around the gardens; nothing too serious I hope. It was too early for cake at Edensor, but not by the time I reached the commuinty hall at Beeley. I then set off for Rowsley but I was struggling a bit. At one point along the way I could have gone down to the riverside path, but I decided to stay on the causeway.,

The bus going to Bakewell arrived on time, but two buses going from Bakewell to Sheffield didn't show up, and after waiting for over an hour two of them arrived, literally one behind the other.

Thorpe Salvin Garden Trail 2018

My first Open Gardens event of the summer with Siobhan, my support worker...we had one arranged for last month but had to cancel because she had problems with her car.

Thorpe Salvin is located a few miles west of Worksop and so is much nearer than all of the other villages we've previously visited which were in the Peak District. Something that interested me in particular today is that Thorpe Salvin is the nearest village to the point where the boundaries of Yorkshire, Derbyshire, and Nottinghamshire meet.

We arrived just before midday and were directed to the car parking area in a field quite near to the ruins of the old fortified manor house.

We then visited the church and eyed up the cakes and cream teas that were being sold.

The rest of the photographs were taken in the gardens that were open, plus a couple of general shots of the village.

On the drive back home we stopped at the tearooms at Braithwell and had a pot of tea and a large slice of refreshing key lime cake each.

Bradwell Open Gardens 2017

Another day out with Siobhan, my support worker; we both enjoyed ourselves as usual, but I think she was struggling a bit walking up and down all the hills in the village...and the steps in the gardens.

Apart from when we went to Bonsall last year, at every other Open Gardens I've attended there's been organised parking facilities for visitors, usually in an adjacent field. I knew this wouldn't be the case today and so did some online research using Google Street View. We managed to find a suitable spot next to the playing fields at the northern end of the village and then walked down to Town Bottom where the tickets were being sold.

The weather forecast was for sunny intervals with the possibility of an occasional shower; well, there were more showers than expected - but still plenty of sunshine for me to take some good photographs. I was prepared; I was wearing my anorak and took my woolly hat too.

Today was also the final day of the welldressing week, therefore by now the displays were not looking their best though.

I obviously enjoyed my day out but it was probably the worst of my visits to an Open Gardens event; obviously the weather didn't help, but neither did the crazy local woman who kept following people around the village and harassing them [she doesn't like people from Sheffield who have moved into the village]...and the map we were provided with wasn't very good - it was difficult to find some of the gardens.

Hemswell Antiques Centre and Hemswell Village

I was hoping to be able to go to one of the places that was holding an open gardens weekend today. Sadly the weather has been quite bad all week and today has been no exception and so I decided to visit an old standby for whenever it's raining; Hemswell Antiques Centre to the east of Gainsborough.

The antiques centre is located on an old RAF base and there are 6-8 separate businesses operating from various former hangars, barracks, and administration buildings.

There aren't just antiques on display here though...and that's why I enjoy looking round so much; there are collectibles, furniture, jewellery, toys, glassware, railwayana, paintings, books, artwork, vintage clothing, militaria, coins and medals, and all sorts of random tat and junk.

There are also several cafes, two small garden centres, a couple of garden and building materials recovery/recycling merchants, a nursing home and several other businesses on the site.

The buildings are quite far spaced apart, and as on previous visits we didn't manage to see everything we wanted to; there was time to pop into one of the cafes for cream teas though.

On the way home we briefly popped into the village of Hemswell so that I could take some photographs of the church.