Tuesday 7 July 2015

Dovedale and the Nine Ladies.

Rosie was right! We were staying in Winster in the Derbyshire part of the Peak District. It is a beautiful part of the world with lots to do if you like outdoorsy stuff. Despite a busy week, there were still many places we'd like to have visited but just didn't have time. We will be back!

Here are some photos of two walks we did...

The first was round Dovedale on a very hot day, we bought icecreams as soon as we arrived - toffee, mint choc chip & raspberry ripple (mine). Yum. Lots of sheep, glorious views following a steep climb over open fields, a descent through cool woodland and a walk back along the river to the stepping stones. We then popped into Ilam for some cake (not the best) in the NT cafe next to the hall.













The second walk was a few days later. We'd been to Gulliver's Kingdom in Matlock Bath earlier in the day (lots of fun, no queues, ace doughnuts!) and stopped off on the way home. We parked the car in Stanton in the Peak (another very pretty village) and set off to visit the Nine Ladies.











The stone circle was a lot smaller than I expected. It was obviously visited frequently - there were lots of areas of burnt grass from BBQs & bonfires and people had hung various talismans on an adjacent oak tree. We had it to ourselves though after scaring another family away on our arrival and the walk was very pleasant. What impressed me most here though were the blue delphiniums in the last photo. I saw so many wonderful flower-filled gardens during our week, makes me want to try harder with our garden at home...

8 comments:

Louise said...

Winster is a lovely place to stay and there are some great walks around! I agree about the Ilam cafe - not the best cakes.

CJ said...

What a glorious part of the world. I've been to the Peak District, although not for a while, and I remember it being very beautiful. The penultimate photo is wonderful, so many pretty places and cottages and vistas to capture. Glad you had such a good holiday. CJ xx

driftwood said...

looks gorgeous. we had a lovely holiday near there a few years ago xxx

driftwood said...

looks gorgeous. we had a lovely holiday near there a few years ago xxx

Simone said...

Gorgeous photos. I want to visit the peak district one day. It looks like a wonderful part of the World. x

Rosie said...

Lovely photos! Glad you had a great time. You were lucky to have the nine ladies circle to yourselves, I've only been a couple of times and both times there were people camping and milling around - like you I expected the stones to be larger when I first visited. Those delphiniums are beautiful I wish I could grow them here:)

blueskyscotland said...

An area I've never visited. Looks lovely with just the sort of gradients I prefer these days in hot weather. They really have the infrastructure down there and in the Lake District. Quaint historic villages,loads of interesting low level walks, gorges, limestone pavements and scenic gentle rivers. Makes upland Scotland seem a bit threadbare by comparison,like a house without much furniture in the rooms I always think :o)

Anonymous said...

I was right then with Derbyshire, though I am on catch up after ten days in France...

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