In a Topiary Garden

We'd  visited Elvaston Castle Country Park on a couple of occasions in the last few years but this time we hadn't intended to visit at all. Somehow we got ourselves onto the wrong road when trying to find and photograph churches at Allestree and Spondon in Derby.  The photography as I think I've mentioned in earlier posts is for Paul's family history website.  We'd taken some photographs of Allestree church and the traffic at the Little Eaton roundabout was horrendous due to roadworks so after we'd taken the wrong turning for Spondon we didn't want to go back towards Kedleston Hall which is where we had intended stopping for a picnic and a walk.  When we saw the signs for Elvaston we revised our plans as we knew we could eventually get round  to Spondon via Ockbrook and Borrowash.

I'm really glad that we did revise our plans because even though we'd visited twice before we'd never ventured further than the walk up to the castle and the courtyard and shop.  This time we walked around the lake and around the churchyard as well as discovering the wonderful parterre and  topiary gardens.

At the centre of Elvaston Castle Country Park is of course the Castle which was rebuilt in the early 19th century in the Gothic revival style for its then owner the third Earl of Harrington.  There is a cafe in one of the rooms in the castle which is now owned by Derbyshire County Council but the rest of the building is closed except for a couple of times a year when the Gothic Hall only is open.  The first of these happened just a few days before our visit but I'd love to go back again to find out more.

The third Earl's son Charles Stanhope, Viscount Petersham was a noted Regency Buck and Dandy who was a crony of the Prince Regent.  In his later years he met and fell in love with Maria Foote a successful actress who was also quite notorious for her involvement in a 'breach of promise' trial.

It is said that the 4th Earl of Harrington, as Viscount Petersham later became, created the gardens, which were designed by William Barron, as a love token for his beautiful actress wife who loved the glamour and theatricality of it all.

The church of St Bartholomew is sited close to the castle or mansion house.  The churchyard was a sea of snowdrops and there were some fascinating grave stones.  Unfortunately the church was closed so we couldn't look inside but it is the parish church for the villages of Elvaston, Thulston and Ambaston.

There is a nice walk around the lake which is surrounded on one side by 'mock' rock and cave follies made from Tufa which is a variety of limestone found mostly around nearby Matlock and Cromford.  There is still a lot more to go back and discover - the old English walled garden, heritage orchard, heronry, nature reserve and a longer walk down to the river Derwent.

I've recently downloaded a fairly newly written book about the story of the making of the Topiary Garden at Elvaston which I hope to read quite soon. It's called  A Topiary Garden - The Actress, the Dandy and the Gardener. A Story of Elvaston Castle in the 1820s  and written by Lynda Aylett-Green.

The Year in Books - March

In March I'm reading The Outcast Dead by Elly Griffiths, the sixth book in her crime series featuring forensic archaeologist Ruth Galloway and DCI Harry Nelson.  I started reading this at the weekend and as always I'm straight into the story and don't want to put the book down.  I love the characters of Ruth Galloway and DCI Harry Nelson, not to mention Flint, Ruth's cat, daughter Kate and Druid friend Cathbad and the descriptions of the lonely salt marsh where Ruth's cottage is situated.  This book is set around an archaeological dig in the grounds of Norwich Castle and already I'm intrigued by the story and it's link back to an earlier book.  Along with Stephen Booth, Ann Cleeves and Susan Hill with her Simon Serailler novels,  Elly Griffiths is one of my favourite modern crime writers at the moment.

I enjoyed reading February's book Summer in February so much so that I've downloaded it onto my Kindle to read again later this year as the book I read had to go back to the library.  Other books I read in February are, as usual, on my sidebar.  

Linking with The Year in Books at Laura's  A Circle of Pine Trees blog

No Ordinary Bank Holiday

‘Grinning as if it were all an August Bank Holiday lark’ 

these words from Philip Larkin’s poem ‘MCMXIV’ were the inspiration behind the latest offering from one of our favourite theatre companies  Northern Broadsides at the New Vic Theatre in Newcastle-under-Lyme.  Written by Deborah McAndrew especially for the start of the 100 years commemorations of the beginning of WW1.  It has all the humour, pathos and energy of other Northern Broadsides productions. I’m always amazed at the talent of the performers, acting, singing, dancing and playing musical instruments as well as moving their own props when necessary – which in this productions included the building up and breaking down of a Rushcart.

It's Wakes Week August 1914, the cotton mills of East Lancashire are closed and the Greenmill Rushcart lads are rehearsing for the Bank Holiday Rushbearing Festival.  Changes are in the air, not many young men are left to perform in this tradtional ceremony as who wants to stay in Greenmill on a Bank Holiday when the delights of Blackpool are on offer?  The old stalwarts like the Squire and Bagman are getting too old and heaven forbid women should be allowed to participate.  Looming on the horizon though is an even greater challenge to tradition and three of the young Rushcart lads are eager to enlist to escape the mill,  to seek new horizons and to do their bit for their county and country in the coming conflict that surely will be over by Christmas.   Who goes and who will return to Greenmill?  Whatever the outcome life will never be the same again.

We cried with laughter in the first part – we applauded the performance of the Denshaw Morris Dance, the building up and the taking down (in the interval) of the Rushcart, we applauded the women musicians who played on whilst this took place, we tapped our feet at the wedding dance and cried again as we learned the fate of the lads.

At the end the audience rose to their feet to say thank you for such a wonderful performance.  If this play comes near you – do go and see it.  I don't think you'll be disappointed.

Link  to trailer on YouTube

The First Drops of Snow........

........and the first Snowdrops

I'm taking a break from blogging for a while I will still visit your blogs when I can.  See you soon!

A Sunny Sunday Walk

Sunday was the most glorious day to say it was only 2nd of February!  After all the gloomy, wet weather we'd had over the last week it was a real treat to get out and about.  We decided to visit Biddulph Grange Gardens, our nearest National Trust property and have a walk round. 

I know I've taken you here many times on this blog over the years and we've visited in all seasons but I'd never been at this time of year. 

There were quite a few changes to notice on this visit, not least the new entrance and reception area which I didn't photograph.  The cafe has been extended into the former reception area next to the shop.

What struck me was how tidy the gardens were.  All the hedges neatly cut and the beds dug and mulched ready for planting.

There were many gardeners hard at work whilst we were there.  I'm guessing that most are volunteers.

 The upturned root walks were still there

 As was the Chinese Garden

which always looks beautiful in any weather but somehow glints and glistens in the brightness of the sun.

 I always tap the little bells as I go along

 Inside the tunnel the path through to the ice house had been opened up but I didn't go round as there was quite a deep puddle and I didn't want to get my feet wet.  We'd left the wellies in the car!

 There is also a new area opened up across the little bridge

 The monkey puzzle trees looked wonderful in the sunlight with the blue sky behind them

I always like this little house and it was great to find out that the room upstairs was open with a photographic exhibition about the house as it was before the fire of 1896 destroyed quite a lot of it.

We walked for an hour or so, there weren't many other visitors with it being so early in the season.

It was just so nice to get out walking in the fresh air, to see the sun and to find some of these.......

Since our visit we've had vast amounts of rain and howling wind but nothing near as bad as those of you who live further south - it sometimes feels as if one day this island will become almost completely inundated and float away or most certainly change shape as it did many thousands of years ago or does that seem quite fanciful?  Anyway to the moving more and eating less - still operating portion control and we've managed three walks this week around the rain.  A walk at Consall Country Park, a walk around the lake at Trentham Gardens and this one around Biddulph Grange.  I keep saying as soon as the weather improves I'm sure we'll walk more  ........ eventually!

The Year in Books - February

Joining in with Laura at Circle of Pine Trees for The Year in Books this month I will be reading Summer in February by Jonathan Smith.

I'm looking forward to reading this novel as it is set in Cornwall in February 1909 and it's about the community of artists known as the Lamorna Group.

According to the blurb  .....'Summer in February is a disturbing and moving re-creation of a celebrated Edwardian artistic community enjoying the last days of a golden age soon to be shattered by war.'

I'm still on the waiting list at the local library for the book I had hoped to read in February, the one I mentioned in my post about January's book,  so I've just started reading this one whilst I am waiting.

Ault Hucknall and Stainsby

A couple of weeks ago on our way back from a visit to Chesterfield we stopped off to photograph the church at the village of Ault Hucknall for Paul's one-name study website.  I think this is one of the few churches where both our family names can be found as the name Limb, Limm and Lymm - found on my mother's side of the family also seems to originate from here.  Whilst researching my ancestors over the years I've found clusters of the Limb (and variants) name in parish records from Ault Hucknall and Heanor in Derbyshire and Eastwood in Nottinghamshire. 

The village of Ault Hucknall, described in some places as the smallest village in England as it has only three dwelling places and the church,  is close to both Hardwick Hall and Stainsby Mill and isn't  far from the village where I grew up in fact the two churches were recently and perhaps still are served by the same vicar.  I think it is known as a dual benefice.

I was surprised that my photos turned out so well as it was getting quite dark in the gloom of a late winter's  afternoon. The whole parish of Ault Hucknall includes the nearby settlements of Hardstoft, Rowthorne, Astwith and Stainsby as well as some outlying farmsteads.

According to the Victoria County History some of the features of the church of St John the Baptist, which is Grade 1 listed, date back to the 11th century when ecclesiastical architecture was still very much influenced by Anglo-Saxon traditions.  As seen in the carvings above and below.

The church played an important part in the lives of all the people on the Hardwick Estate and some of them must have travelled quite a way to attend services there.  Not surprisingly the church was closed whilst we were there but inside is buried the philosopher and author of The Leviathan Thomas Hobbes who was in his younger days a tutor to the Cavendish family.

The gravestones in the churchyard were most interesting and I'd like to return and look at them and the inside of the church at a later date.  I thought the monument below look quite spooky in the half light.

I didn't spot any Limbs in the churchyard but I did see two on the War Memorial which stands just outside Stainsby Mill

We visited Stainsby Mill in April last year on a really cold day and I took a few photos which I never used on here.  It is of course owned by the National Trust and run by volunteers.

It stands on the Hardwick Estate and its interpretation inside is that of a 19th century water mill.

Although from my photos it looks as if there was no one else there in actual fact there were quite a few people inside where the volunteers were describing the various workings of the mill and grinding handfuls of flour for us to feel.

  The mill produces
wholegrain wheat flour and spelt flour.

We bought a bag of each to make bread with at home