Monday, October 17, 2011

The Long Walk

Yesterday, after spending the whole of Saturday either in the garden mowing lawns and clearing leaves, transporting paving slabs and sand or taking bags of clippings to the council's refuse and recycling site we decided, despite the aching necks and shoulders caused by all that work, to take a day off and walk somewhere we hadn't walked before.

We decided to follow the Long Walk at Kedleston Hall in Derbyshire which isn't too far away.  It was drizzling with rain as we left home but by the time we reached Kedleston it was dry and the sun was beginning to appear from behind the clouds.

The walk passes by the lush, sheep dotted parkland surrounding the house and gardens and winds its way up into the woods.

We passed quite a few badger setts including this one in the middle of the path - the sign reads  'Mr and Mrs Bert Badger live here - please watch out for their front door in the middle of the path' - of course we didn't see them but were careful not to disturb them!

There were some lovely old, gnarled trees.  We thought we could see a face in the one above and then I decided I could see a Chinese dragon - can you spot it?

It was lovely and shady under the trees as we walked with fallen leaves crunching underfoot and birds twittering - mostly great tits - up high in the branches.

There were occasional views of the parkland and then views of the house and church.  We sat opposite the view below whilst we ate our picnic lunch.

At this point we were about halfway along the walk.   We crossed some of the parkland still with plenty of curious sheep around

and farm implements left standing

before entering the woods again.   We saw plenty of fungi (see the collage at the end of the post) as we walked.  

At the end of the woods we found the 'splash pool' as we joined the walk along the water's edge back towards the bridge.

The three arched bridge was  designed by Robert Adam in the mid 18th century and spans the fishing and boating lakes of which there are five in all.

After our walk we went into the pleasure gardens and the church and also had a quick look in the shop before heading towards home.

Edit Tuesday 18th - for more photos of Kedleston pop over to Louise at - Ramblings of a Roachling  - who visited on the day before us.  

18 comments:

  1. A wonderful walk Rosie. I hope you felt energised afterwards! Yes! I can see a Chinese dragon in the tree trunk! x

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  2. It sounds like you have been very busy in the garden!

    What a coincidence - we visited Kedleston on Saturday! We didn't do the walk though as I took an elderly lady along to see the house and she couldn't manage a walk!

    It's a lovely place, next time we go we plan to walk in the grounds as we have a visited the place a few times but never walked there.

    It looks great in your photos!

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  3. Thats a gorgeous walk and one that would suit all the seasons.

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  4. Enjoyed the walk, looked very "autumny".

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  5. The colour and light in your photos are very Autumnal. Hubby had his day off cancelled yesterday to work at the Sheffield "derby" match - so I was non too pleased to miss such a great day for a walk. xxxx

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  6. I can see the dragon too! I've never heard of Kedleston ... it looks well worth a visit. That's just my sort of walk ... woodland and water!
    xxx

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  7. That looks a great walk.My daughter in law'sparents live close by there.I must ask them whether they have done that walk.

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  8. Lovely walk and great photos.

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  9. Those are incredible photos, the waterfall with the swan? Straight out of something from Hans Christian Anderson!

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  10. That really was a gorgeous walk! Lovely photos.
    Hope all is well with you ;-)x

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  11. I adore that lovely old, gnarled tree!

    As my mum always used to say, "if you wait for the weather you will never go anywhere", which is very true in our neck of the woods. I am glad the rain did not stop play.

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  12. Lovely walk, no such thing as bad weather, just the wrong clothes (is my walking mantra).

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  13. As I confessed on Roachling's blog, I am ashamed to admit how long it is since I last visited Kedleston, in spite of the fact that I pass the front gate about once a week and only live 15 minutes away.

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  14. Rosie, I cannot believe there is anywhere in your part of the world where you haven't walked yet:-) What a delight though and yes I can see a dragon in that wonderful tree.

    Your Saturday sounds pretty exhausting! Have a relaxing rest of the week.

    Jeanne
    x

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  15. What a marvellous walk Rosie. I can almost smell the scent of leaf mould as I join you through the woods and hear the crunch of autumn leaves under my feet.

    Kedleston Hall is such a beautiful location. I love the three arch stone bridge. Sights like this make me long to be back in England.

    Have a lovely weekend.

    Marie x

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  16. How did I miss this? It always amazes me when you do posts about things on my doorstep..... I love Kedleston (though I tend to do Calke more often because it's a gnat's whisker nearer....)

    Love you photos.

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  17. Lovely photos and a very interesting walk. Jean

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  18. A lovely walk with lots of interesting things to see, I really like that wonderful gnarled old tree. It's years since I've been to Kedleston so next summer I shall have to go again, it will be closed for the winter by now I suspect.

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