Good Friday

Hello Lovelies,

I hope you are having a good Easter weekend. I've been at work this morning and I'm working all day tomorrow....but I was off on Good Friday. And golly it was a good Friday.

With the forecast promising a sunny, calm day I couldn't resit a trip to the Peak district. We love Dovedale, I've posted about it before HERE and HERE . And most recently HERE

A little further along the river Dove is a pretty village called Milldale. It's easily walk-able from where we usually park, but for various reasons we have never reached it. 

After seeing some gorgeous photos of Milldale on instagram last week....Sarah, I'm looking at you...I decided we must finally visit.

I dragged the family out of bed at 7am, not easy with teenagers and we were on the road just after 8am. It's over an hours journey from where we live but the roads were quiet and the views that greeted us when we arrived were adorable.........

In my hurry to get on the road I'd forgotten our O.S. map of the area. This was a worry, but thankfully there was an information board in the car park with suggested walks....here we go boys, 3 miles...easy ( don't mention the hills ;0)  )

So we set off in search of the bridge, passing pretty stone cottages.........

Oh look the old Temperance hotel from the info board....now a luxurious holiday let by the river...called appropriately   Duck Cottage........

I loved the mini Daffs in the window boxes.

Dovedale  belongs to the national trust and they have an information barn here........

Inside there are helpful maps for visitors......

And reminders of just how popular an area this is..........

But at 10am all was quiet. Youngest was busy on the bridge taking photos when I rejoined the family......

Isn't it wonderful. How I love the old stone bridge and the jumble of rooftops behind. You can just about make out an old red phone box too.........

This is the well walked path away from the bridge, looking back towards Milldale........

It was such a perfect morning to stroll by the river, as sunlight flooded in through the still bare branches of the trees........

We couldn't resist leaving the path and walking by the river, it's such a magical sight as the crystal clear water tumbles over rocks.........

and it's setting in the deep valley is stunning.....

The sunlight bounced back as it sped over mini waterfalls,  swirling  and bubbling delightfully before continuing it's journey.......

It's just the right size of river here, don't you think. Not a stream and not a big deep body of water. Just a playful little river.......

the sounds it made were so soothing as it bounced over the shallow rocks.......

Sheep on a steep bank make me smile. A friend at work told me that on a school trip to Derbyshire the teacher told her class that the sheep here have two legs longer than the other two, so they can stand up straight on the hillside. She believed that for years....bless her.......

We were making quiet slow progress as there was just so much to see ( and in the case of youngest and myself...photograph)

Oh look, three men sized people...hubby and our eldest two........

The dramatic rock formations above us were getting more and more striking as we progressed........

and the sight of Catkins made me smile.........

In this log by the stream pennies were pressed into the cracks......

I think most had been there a long time........

The light was perfect and I felt so lucky to be here as a family group to enjoy this special place together.........

Youngest made me smile by offering to take a "blog photo" for me. He was in full on Photographer mode. "Walk that way, keep walking, stop now" he instructed me :0).....

Honestly I'm happier behind the camera than in front of it these days. Snapping away, trying to capture the beauty of it all.......

Here we were suddenly in the shade and it felt chilly compared to our sunlit stroll......

The high cliff to our left contained lots of caves and peculiar holes........

we stood inside one and gazed at the beautifully framed view of the towering rocky hill opposite......

A little further along we were back in the sunlight and youngest was getting photography help from middle son.....

I do love to see brotherly co-operation.

They were trying to get a good shot of this sweet fellow........

I've never seen this beautiful bird, with it's flashes of yellow and it's bobbing tail before......

It's a grey wagtail and at this moment I wished my camera had a better zoom and could capture such fast movement clearly........

My third ( yes third!) canon IXUS is limping along with multiple problems at the moment. I toy with the idea of getting a "proper camera" , a DSLR, but I know I just love a little  " point and shoot" despite it's limitations.

It's always easily to hand and sometimes it captures lovely effects like this...

We had arrived at Ilam rock and I stood on the bridge for a while gazing at the weird and wonderful rock formations......

Youngest was still snapping away too. The light was simply perfect for photographers like us :0)......

Soon we were climbing steeply up, away from the river .........

Climbing stiles and passing mossy walls.........

Some of the moss was amazing...like miniature ferns........

More hill sheep.......

and still we climbed..........

The route said "turn right just before Stanshope", but how far that was we just did not know.......

Here we passed an interesting looking, but super steep path that looked like it would have amazing views from the top. Why did I not go and see? I wish I had now, but we had not had a drink yet and I was keen to reassure myself were on the right footpath before stopping..........

Why did I forget that map!

After a long climb out of dovedale we finally arrived at Stanshope ( well I supposed it was Stanshope)....

time to turn right and keep climbing........

Nearly at the top, phew.........

And yes, a reassuring sign........

aaahh, the perfect spot for coffee.......

and a home made snack........

Flapjack

They taste even better sat on the grass, leaning your back against a warm stone wall......

Feeling revived we set off on the last leg of our walk....it was all downhill now.........

Running races happened........

untill it got very steep and there were slippery rocks.........

Ahhhh, nearly back. Oh how I love being up amongst the rooftops. It's a feeling you just don't get were we live and it reminds me of my childhood........

The final part of our decent was between more mossy drystone walls......

and it led to pretty Daffodils........

Back in Milldale we could see it had got busy while we were away.......

 Well it was a sunny bank holiday in our most visited national park.

It's no wonder it's so popular. How I loved all the houses and the utterly charming touches like these pots of ferns......

not to mention the bridge.......

We joined the queue at Polly's cottage where they sell food through the stable doorway.........

It was lunchtime and the boys had earned a hot sausage roll.........

Soon it was time to leave. Bye bye lovely Milldale........

I got a postcard from Polly's too. I know I took loads of my own photos, but it's always nice to have a printed version to stick on my noticeboard as well.........

When we got back to the car park it was, unsurprisingly, packed. I was glad we got up early and  avoided the busiest travelling time.

It was a very good, Good Friday and I'm so happy I can record and share these special times here.
Jacquie x

Signs of Spring

Hello Lovelies, 

though the past two days have been horribly grey we were blessed with a good amount of sunshine earlier in the week. I've  been walking local footpaths and absorbing the winter colours...for it surely wont be long till all the brown turns green........

I've actually really liked the colours of winter this year. I've loved the bare tree silhouettes, and marvelled at the colour of the lichen which really stands out when there is not much colour to be found.
Is it yellow, is it green? I haven't really tried to give this colour a name.......

The weeping willow has a similar, if paler, version of this colour too..........

There's not much colour in the little bit of woodland here....but oh, that light, those shadows......

Further along my walk I did come across some colour by the footpath steps. Such a sweet touch to plant bulbs in the woodland here...with the sun shining through it's petals this one positively glowed.........

I love to see a blue sky backdrop, making this favourite church of mine look extra pretty.......

In the churchyard this little stone statue ( covered in that brightly coloured lichen) caught my eye.........

Back home the sun was still shining on my kitchen windowsill....

I love this time of year for the inexpensive flowers and plants that bring spring indoors....

50p primulas from the supermarket.

I couldn't resist moving my daffs into the lounge when I sat down for a cuppa and some crochet......

I'm really enjoying working up another baby blanket in winter colours. Of course mustard had to feature........

Look, it's exactly right for the eye-catching Lichen.......



There are quiet a lot of "Temperature Blankets" popping up on instagram. Have you heard of this idea? You choose colours to represent the different degrees and work a row or a square for each day. It's an interesting idea. There's a pinterest page of examples HERE

This is not a temperature blanket, but it's certainly seasonally inspired. Cool blues and frosty whites. Wintry grey and muted green...........

( and mustard for the lichen of course)

On Thursday we also enjoyed sunshine on our group walk. Which was a relief after two cloudy and muddy weeks.

The wintry countryside looked pretty in sunshine........

Aaaah, fresh air and a view, lovely.........

Still no sign of leaves on the Oak trees........

After a couple of miles we stopped for coffee in a playground. The leader had made brownies for us all. They were delicious and I'm sure they tasted even better for being eaten outdoors in the sunshine and washed down with coffee from a flask........

It seems every churchyard is filled with Daffodils at the moment.........

Along the canal side the reedmace was shedding the fluffy stuff so beloved of the birds for their nest lining..........

I loved seeing this original canal bridge in great, restored condition......

Lunch was a picnic sat on this Market cross.........

This gorgeous old image is borrowed from HERE. It still looks exactly the same and we took photos of the group from the same spot :0)

The sun still shone and the old cottages looked so charming.........

After lunch there were more easy, flat miles.......

 pretty locks to admire...........

and bridges to stand on and and admire the reflections.........

In the last village we walked through I loved this house sign.....1 Rosy Row ....wonderful :0).......

Here's cute Rosy Row.......

And here's another charming old home......

Crossing the stream the water sparkled in the afternoon sunlight.........

And the group climbed the gentle hill towards the end of our circular walk.......

we were parked near this fairytale castle. It looked perfectly romantic in the hazy light.........

In the fields below it's elevated position newborn  lambs charmed us.......

The perfect sign of spring.......

One of the group said if there were a T.V. programme which was an hour of just watching lambs gambolling in the fields she would sit and watch it. I think I would too :0)......



These twins were well away from their mother. We hoped they would not stray too far.........

and thankfully as we left they ran off towards the flock........

It was a perfect end of winter and eve of spring walk. And today it is officially spring....yay.
Happy Equinox Lovelies.
Jacquie x