The Sound Of A Merlin

Brilliant sunshine made it compulsory to take a trip into Derbyshire to visit Old Mr Flint an his boys.

Walking from the village to the cottage took us past a new-build cottage which has been in the build stage for about four years. Fortunately, the owner and two of the builders were about and I had the cheek to ask to look around the place. The cottage has been designed by a well a well known architect and is in keeping with the traditional Derbyshire style, but it is a modern interpretation of that style. The site is in the Peak Park which means that the building regulations have dominated the building process ... as always. The design of the living area is open plan with an exposed roof structure consisting of wooden spars tensioned by stainless steel rods. The whole effect is like a mixture of ships rigging, urt and crooked barn. It looks excellent. No doubt some will think the building is inappropriate for the area ... we loved it.

We had a very enjoyable time at the cottage, with a pig-out afternoon tea and great conversation with our friend. The boys munched their biscuits, chased balls and generally made me run up and down the fellside.

At the farm Bill set the boys to working some sheep while we waited for the arrival of a Spitfire which had been book for a fly-over. The local squire, Sir Hugh, was having a do at Brookfield Manor in order to raise money in support of the Brit troops overseas. The aircraft flew down the valley. What a fantastic sight! If you've never seen one of these aircraft and heard the sound of the engine ... what can I say? A couple of wing-overs and it was gone; no doubt back to Coningsby where the BB Memorial Flight is kept.

We caught the 272 back to Sheffield, the driver of which was obviously in training for some sort of rally ... you could not have driven a car any faster ... quite exhilarating!