Derbyshire

Lucky enough to have a wonderful 3 nights up in Derbyshire - not an area I knew well at all.  I went with John and his family and we couldn't have asked for better weather.  Truly glorious and we were in such a brilliant location.  And all we did was a lot of fun while still feeling like a relaxing holiday.  John was really good at getting us to say what our favourite 4 things were about each day.  There were lots of choose from.  These photos include some of my top fours!

We shared the journey up from Leicester.  John found a compilation CD from 1999 - I think it was Now 42 or some such.  We had a funny time singing along to some of the 'classics'!!  I realised just how lacking my music knowledge is - even from an era I remember watching Top of the Pops!
This is our lovely place that we stayed - I haven't worked out the best thing to call it: cottage, barn conversion... 

We were in the middle of a golf course with nice views out across the valley and with a castle in the distance.  We headed out on a walk for a bit of an explore.   Having left the map at the ranch we was a little longer than intended but a good time no less!

Each night, the younger generation took it in turns to cook.  Think we all did a good job.  It was a nice sized dining room and on the last night we ate outside.

On our first full day, we drove to Chatsworth House and parked the cars.  We went on a walk that had featured in Leicestershire Life magazine.  It was absolutely lovely.  This is the iconic-to-me bridge on the entry to the house.

A stop for our picnic lunch by a pub.

The uphill stretch of the walk - a little trickier - but it was shaded by trees so I couldn't really tell how steep and ongoing it was!

And it let to some good views, over a type of moorland, at the top.

On the second day, we headed to Bakewell, then on to Lathkill Dale.  I didn't really know much about the Dales but they were a nice place to spend time.

One of the great things about the house was it's games room.  We kept finding new and exciting forms of entertainment in there.  We all went over one evening after dinner.  I was feeling tired and not majorly in the mood but had a lot of fun there!  Having a go on the weights machine:

The games room also had these springing running shoes which we had a go at and I absolutely loved the hysterics I ended up in watching people!

And the piece de resistance was the tennis court outside.  We had many a game out there.  I have never enjoyed playing tennis as much before.  I particularly enjoyed it when we played games of round the world, which just seemed ludicrous to try with the four of us, but we managed a rally of into the 30s and I think even once in the 50s doing it that way - much better than properly!!!

A lovely holiday indeed.  Thank you all!