Hay Meadows - Not Many Left To Enjoy

Another trip on the 272 to Hathersage and we dragged our aged bones up to the Hay Meadows on Ridgeway Side. What so interesting about these meadows? First the mixture of plant life is vast compared to "modern" pastures. Second the reason they still exist in this particular place, is probably mainly the result of about 30 years of dedicated stewardship. One man, who is a estate warden (not to be confused with a "Ranger") working for the Peak National Park Authority, typifies such dedication. Sad to say that there are so few such individuals who have that wide level of hands-on experience in todays world where "Authorities" are awash with middle-class theorists and Knowledge-College environmentalist and managers who are dedicated to their careers, company policies, goverment targets and politically correct performance aims. Oops, that's not very PC old chap!

Sadder is the state of the atmosphere in the Hope Valley. The day was hot and an inversion kept the crap down so that a blue haze dominated the view. Why so much crap? Mainly from car exhaust. Rave about industry and power stations all you like; it's cars that are the problem. The sheer numbers of them - they've got to go ... What's wrong with public transport and walking. Er, you have to mix with the common folk and can't show off how posh you are ... waiting for a bus is sooo common ... you don't see pop-stars, TV personalities and top sportsmen standing at the bus stop; it just isn't what the A-List do ...


The most spectacular of the flowers? The native ochids.

Well, Well and There Was More Cake ...

A beautifully sunny day and the best of English countryside - what more could a soul want?

We spent the day in Youlgrave looking at the well dressings and ... drinking Rosie and eating cake. The sun shone, the gardens were filled with flowers and rampant greenery and the birds sang. We sat in a picture-postcard setting; relaxed and well suppied with munchies. The location? Greystone Cottage. The reason they were providing such delights? Raising aid to both the Youlgrave-Bangbutt Village and The Tearfund Water Project.

What better way is there of helping the poor, than slothfully sitting in the English sunshine and gorging on Victoria sponge, chocolate cake and scones with strawberries and cream, all washed down with a pot or two of English tea? None I can think of ...

Well Filled with Cake

Well dressing was underway at Tideswell so we had to sample the tea, cakes and mouth watering icecream on sale. The well dressing themselves are really well done so that's good enough reason to visit the village.












On to Litton village. Complete with brass band the whole of the village was out to celebrate the blessing of water. We sampled the tea and cakes and then went to the pub for a pint of the most English of summer drinks - a shandy. A lovely sunny day, good company and a bust of local culture ... excellent!

Not So Exciting as Tehran

Off we go on the Iron Horse to sleepy Sleaford for a couple of days. This is a typical market own in Lincolnshire so, as you may expect, it's full of historic buildings. The Roman's had a garrison here a few generations ago which sort of give you some idea of the depth of that history.

St Deny's is the parish curch and it's a gem!

The current curate (Jeremy Cullimore) is a delight to talk to and has a personal history which shows that some clerics are a bit more than God Bothering wind bags. Anyone who has been a soldier in the Boznian War somehow has a bit more than theoretical idea about the importance spirituality in a person's life. Back to the kirk ...

It dates from round 1080 so you can guess it's well worth a visit even by the most hardened heathen.

The old Bass Maltings is a huge series of buildings; now disused. This really impressive industrial structure is the subject of heated debate - someone wants to "develope" the site. I gather Cousin Charles of the Ears has waded into the fight which could bring some interest to the debate.

No Consolation to Fred

The village of Skelton-cum-Newby (no I'm not making it up) is where the second Martian church was built. The church of Christ the Consoler was build as an extravagant memorial to Frederick Vyner who had been murdered in Greece. A really beautiful church if a bit OTT. Sadly not used for it's intended purpose these days.

We found it full of primary school kids doing projects on 'Patterns and Sets' - the principal said the church was a great teaching resource. Let's hope Fred thinks the same!


The only reason these sort of places are kept in good condition is the work of the Churches Conservation Trust. Some may think it's all a waste of money - it's called culture.

Fountains Abbey - Extraordinary

Fountains Abbey is just down the road from Ripon so off we jogged in the fine rain ... by car you'll appreciate at our time of life ...

An amazing place and the size of the site has to be walked to appreciate how big the abbey was before Uncle Henry decided to have a spak-attack. The majesty of the place must have been mind blowing and it's all gone because an over sexed fat man couldn't get a divorce ...

Next to the abbey is St Mary's church - no longer used as such. I thought: Italian, pseuo-Ravenna, pre-reformation, Roman Catholic and definitely over done by someone with too much lucre to spare - but that means it's stunning inside. The Martians - joke - who built it even have a pseuo-Elizabethan tomb. You would wouldn't you when you're one of the Landed Hipocracy - sorry that should be Aristocracy (a simple mistake anyone could make ...) Oh yes, this is one of a pair of such Martian churches, but more of that another time.

The Studley Royal Water Gardens are worth a look even in the rain. The cafe even does a nice soup d'jour, toasted teacake and Yorkshire tea - what more could you want? On the humourous side: John Aislabie inherited the Studley Royal estate in 1693. He was chucked out of parliament in 1720 for the same sort of things our current MPs are up to - nothing really changes ...

Ripping Time in Ripon

After a 90 min drive up the M something we got to Ripon just as the rain started.

First stop was the cathedral which is really beautifully restored and used frequently for God bothering.

The cathedral is a 5 min walk from the village square where we dropped into a the Wakeman's House Cafe which is your typical English tea and scones cafe. Great apple pie! The owner was really chatty so we spent too long talking about Oztrailier and pointing out that she'd probably be better off staying in The Old Country 'cos there are just as many thugs, drunks, unemployed, lousy schools etc etc as anywhere else in the "West". Funny how people fall for the beach n sun sales pitch ... that's folks Freddy boy ...

On to the camp site: Woodhouse Farm. Very nice and quiet the only sounds being birds and sheep. The Birds commence their concert at 4 in the morning!! Well that's what you go camping for - plus the enevitable rain ...

What poor souls we are - camping. Sooo down maket! It was really a great hardship to suffer noodle and black bean sauce stir fry followed by fresh coffee and cake while watching the sunset and listening to the birds. Brilliant!

Life and Art

Saw the end of year show of the Hallam Uni Contemporary Fine Art BAs. I'm sure they tried but honestly ... Some of the pieces were shown in basement studios which even the administration staff found it hard to tell us where they were and how to get to them - lifts were out so that made things even more confusing.

Talking to some of the students was a disheartening. Not one had anything good to say about the course or the lecturers. The students even went to the extreme of mounting a protest complete with placards so they must have been more than a bit annoyed with the way they were treated. One student said that during the three years there had been no attempt at teaching techniques - discovery is all! She said that she had organized life drawing classes because it was too hard for the faculty staff! Makes my blood boil to think the snotty lectures can't get over their importance to actually teach and mentor their students - no wonder students find solace in booze and drugs - wouldn't you if there isn't anyone to inspire and learn from? I suppose it's just a question of paying bums on seats and academic ego satisfaction. Moving along ...

The life class at the Millenium on Friday was good. Nothing drawn of value but the chance to practice "looking" dicipline was enough.

Chesterfield - 12 mins by Train

Catching the London train we sped to Chesterfield for a day of exploration.



The parish church of Our Lady and All Saints is world famours because of the twisted spire. The present building is the third on the site and there is evidence that a Saxon church existed before these.



The church is beautiful inside; well kept and very much alive with activity. The glass is relatively "new" but very impressive. There is only one small remnant of the pre-Reformation glass and the plaster on the walls was later removed due to poor condition - any paintings and decoration were lost in the process.



The spire's wooden structure is twisted due to drying out - it looks weired but we are told its quite safe.



Filled with amazement we went on to the markets. More amazement! They were big and you could find just about anything. The markets here have been on the site since medieval times. More to the point the stalls had so much by way of usable "found objects" I have no excuse for not making more of my strange sculptures.


The remaining Tudor buildings look good and the Royal Oak pub in the shambles has been serving booze since the 12th century. The beer? Fantastic! Flavour, head and temperature - none of your freezing cold, tasteless "lager" you'd get in places like Oztrailier. As a bonus, Roger the publican, was a great host. We'll definitely be visiting again.

Back to the station ... 12 mins and we're back in Sheffied.

Moor Sunshine and Tired Feet

Saturday brought another of those English spring-summer days. Clear milky blue sky, cooling wind and the feel of 20 degrees of perfection. The 272 took us to Fox House Inn where we set out for a few hours of walking.

Passing by Longshaw Lodge we went over the moor to White Edge Lodge and, after ignoring some very large horned beasts which sat chewing what we assumed was their last victim, we strode down to the Grouse Inn for a quick half of amber.

Suitably refreshed, we went through the woods to Grindleford Station and on to Grindleford to pick up the Derwent Valley Heritage Way footpath which took us to Hathersage.

Time for a Rosey before catching the 272 back to Sheffield.

Fantastic weather. Beautiful views. Sun bronzed and knackered. What else would a sane person need? A hot soak and large glass of red!

Steel Works No - Appartments Yes

A brillo day; all sun and gentle breeze. We packed our snap and set out to wander what was the Steel Heart of Sheffield. "The Furnace Trail" is part of the Sheffield Industrial Museums Trust project and comes with a well illustrated booklet just about right for school kids. Unfortunately the floods in 2007 have set the project back a bit so some of the historically important buildings and material were still under wraps. Still it's work a wander along the 3 km trail.

The fact that so much industry was only 10 mins walk from the very centre of town is the first thing you notice. No wonder we had all the dreadful smog problems in what was only a few years ago.

The museum was closed (Friday) but that didn't stop memories of our experiences when we worked for industrial firms in Lincoln in the early 60s (Leys Castings and Gwynnes Pumps). Cobbled streets, gaunt stone and brick walled, massive buildings. Each building having all kinds of rusting pipes pocking out of them as though they couldn't contain their industrial entrails. Blackened chimney stacks piercing todays milky blue sky. No smoke. No steam. No People. No noise. Only the odd traffic and birds. Eeyrie - dead and buried industry.

Where there were filthy back-to-back workers hovels and works you now see swish blocks of flats (appartments) which seem to be mainly occupied by uni students. Manufacturing mills and works are now either delapidated and dangerous mausoleums to industry or they have been redeveloped into modern mass housing projects. Boxs housing the decendents of the masses who worked in dreadful condition in the same place. The irony is almost palpable - not that the occupants give any thought to it.

Walking these streets in the sunshine was cause for us to reflect on our early working experiences. Thank God for progress!

Abbyedale - Greens and Industrial History

A lovely sunny day can't be wasted. Pack the sandwiches! We caught the bus to Millhouses and started walking through the park. Something became familiar - the boating lake, should that be pond? I came here with an uncle when I was about 7 and I remembered the model yachts. Onwards ...



Walking to Beauchief Hall took us through the huge golf course and, on the way, we had a quick look at Beauchief Abbey which is really a sad remnant of what it was. Walking lanes lined with hedgerows white with Cow Parsley and Hawthorn, birds shouting their warnings and the air rendolent with blossom is just fantastic. You have to experience this sort of thing to appreciate the nature of an English lane. Don't forget this is on the edge of a huge urban area.



Lunch followed by a swift half at a local pub.



On to Abbeydale Industrial Hamlet. This is the "remains" of a crucible steel works which made thousands of scythes which were distibuted all over the world. The place need a large amount of restoration - worth a visit.



Great day out for a couple of oldies ...

Spring Sunshine - Suntan Is Possible

The weekend was more or less sunny all of the time which caused the inevitable phenomenon of an out break of flip-flops, shorts and T-shirts. We desisted! It was nice and warm - well worth a picnick in the park along with our fellow urbanites. In fact Sue did get a bit of a suntan.

Monday saw us strolling across the meadows in the Stannage - Hathersage area. The woods were all a-bluebell and lushly green ... what more could we ask for? Picnicking in the field behind North Lees Hall is one of our favorite pastimes

Tuesday I visited The Edge climbing centre. Fantastic! I'm told that the old-n-bold use Tuesday and Thursday mornings to climb and no doubt shoot the breeze - I'll have to test this out next week.

Technology wise the Acer netbook just stopped with no indication of it's desire to withdraw its labour - what a ...


Politics wise we're a bit troubled by the BNP vote-for-us adds on the TV. Sadly, they'll appeal to a large number of simple folk and not just the nutters. Nothing like an Us-versus-Them campaign with a whiff of cordite from WW2, "Your mums and dads fought for ..." All very worrying.

Life in The Millenium

Catching the 3 or4 outside the flate gates means that within 15 minutes I can walk into the Millenium Galleries. It's Friday so I decided to go to an open life drawing class (six quid).

Tim Rose ran the class today. He's a delightful chap and paints the most exquisite interiors in watercolour.

Oo, er - I'm well out of practice! Nothing produced worth talking about but the opportunity to improve my scratchings is available. I'll be giving this a bash next week - er,no, it's school holidays.

Well, Well, Well ...

A lovely drive though Derbyshire brought us to Tissington which is a small village contained (owned?) by the FitzHerbert family estate. We went to see the Well Dressings which celebrate the supply of water to the village.

The village is a typical old Derbyshire village the site of which which has seen habitation from ancient times. Some, if not most, of the cottages are still part of the estate and the current Baronet, Richard, is happy to play the tour guide complete with a comprehensive commentary - we passed on this enlightening experience.

The wells were blessed, each in turn, while we wander about eating huge slices of Victoria sponge courtesy of the maidens of the WI. The church is well worth a visit - the Norman font and doorway are unusual. Typical Elizabethan funeral hatchments add interest.

After a cup of rosey we decided we'd had enough culture and asked one of the Baronet's look-a-likes the way out of the village. The drive back to Sheffield went through the most fantastic green-and-pleasant you could imagine.

Train Cancelled? Have another coffee ...

We set out for a w/e visit looking forward to a couple fast train trips. That was the idea but like all theoretical propositions reality proved to be quite different.

The 0947 to Norwich was canceled so we asked one of the railway staff what alternatives we had. He promptly gave us a printout. Off we went to Doncaster on the York train. This was a slow fast-train. Why slow? No one knew but it got to Doncaster. Time to change trains. Not so simple because the London train didn't stop at Grantham where we wanted to get to. Coffee and cake time!

After further consultation we were told that the next London train did stop so that solved that problem. To our delight it all worked out as predicted. That was on Friday.

Come Sunday we had to make the return. You guessed it! The train we had booked was canceled - a drivers' strike. What to do? Catch the Hull train and change at Doncaster. Fast and quiet travel at it's best and fortunately there were plenty of free seats. Five minutes in Doncaster saw us on the Sheffield train. All done and dusted!

So the moral is - even if you book seats it doesn't mean the train will run or you'll actually get a seat.

To give credit where it's due every one of the rail people were really helpful and very nice - can't have everything I suppose ...

Boys in the Bluebells

On a wet afternoon, all misty and soft, we rugged-up and walked over the fields from Hathersage to meet Bill and the boys. Time to go and photograph massed bluebells. It's fantastic to stand in the middle of a sea of blue surrounded by bright green woodland. All this because it rains! No rain no lush vegetation. So who cares if you have to rug-up.

And the boys? Here they are - who wouldn't love them?

272 from Roofs to Pasture

Location, location, location the estate agents tell up while getting their hands on our filth lure. We take the bait and end up to our ears in debt. "Such a nice location old chap and the neighbours are so refined. Plenty of parking for the Mercs as well."

We lesser mortals settle for more humble dwellings and ride the local bus along with all and sundry. The scenery changes from packed roofs to green and pleasant land.

If you've a mind to, there is always the option of munching your snap along side a stream - no need for an iPod the sounds are symphonic without batteries or silicon dependent technology.

Makes you think ...

Cheap Health Incentive

Swine flu is all the rage with the doom and gloom merchants at the moment. Not to to be out smarted the health authorities have decided to use good old-fashioned methods to provide immunity to the masses. "Kiss a Pig Week" is to celebrated next week and world wide.

After several clinical, should that be sty, trials, researchers have shown that this method of mass health protection is both cost effective and fun.

So kiss your nearest pig, you know it makes sense!

Life is a Clean Pair of Sox

The washing machine man poked and prodded but couldn't find anything ailing the beast. I gave it a thrashing with a branch from a tree in the garden and, unlike Fawlty's mini it worked! Civilized life can now continue and there is no need respray certain nether regions with fungal killer and the fragrence of rose.


Ah, snuggley comfort of freshly fluffed undies; sheer bliss!