Dovedale

What a difference a day makes! Yesterday we walked in bright winter sunshine at Dovedale, today we woke up to a light covering of snow. 

We hadn't been to Dovedale for ages as it being a 'honeypot' in the Peak District it is always very busy but yesterday apart from one large walking group, a couple of dog walkers and a couple of fly fishermen it was reasonably quiet.

The sun was so bright as we walked along it was casting a gold shadow over the water of the River Dove.

The water in the river was quite high and had burst over the edges of the bank in some places.

The water was flowing along quite swiftly too.

The well known stepping stones which I used to love jumping across as a child.  Yesterday I found them quite challenging.

I did make it across with a supporting hand from my fellow walker.  I find age brings with it some challenges and uncertainties.  Not feeling as sure footed as I used too, not hearing people or bikes coming up behind me and finding walking towards the winter sun quite challenging.

We walked on along the path, the stark leafless trees looked wonderful against the bright blue sky.

Birds swooped overhead and landed on the bushes up on the slopes.  We also saw a dipper on the river and there were plenty of wrens and robins about.

We weren't sure if the birds we saw landing on the bushes were fieldfares or redwings

I only managed a very poor photo and can't tell what it is although we did see fieldfares as we drove down the lanes on the way to Ilam and Dovedale.

We also saw two male pheasants having a scrap.

and lots of fungus on a tree by the river.

It was quite chilly even in the sun and my fingers were getting cold.

It was time to head back to Ilam for coffee and scones at the National Trust cafe before we returned home.  It was so good to get out into the fresh air.

A visit to Sheffield

We set out on Wednesday morning last week having seen that the weather forecast was good and drove through Leek, Buxton, Castleton and Bamford right into the city centre.  The sun was bright in the sky and lit our way through some beautiful countryside.  The drive down Winnat's pass was wonderful, we've travelled that way many times before but I'm always stunned by the beauty of it.

Sheffield was much as I remembered it, once we had got our bearings as it must be about ten years since we last visited.  It was a regular shopping venue when I was a child and teenager growing up in Derbyshire as the bus to the city passed through our village at five to the hour every hour and the bus stop was opposite our house.  It was quite a long journey, over an hour as the service bus visited every village on the route.

Henderson's Relish or 'Hendos' as it is known locally is one of the icons of the city. There was a whole section of souvenirs dedicated to it in the Millennium Gallery which was where we were headed. We always have a bottle in the cupboard. I've put this photo in for my friend Robert who wrote about 'Hendos' recently in one of his blog posts - link here

 We walked down towards the Cenotaph near the City Hall then round to the Winter Gardens and Millennium Gallery. 

You can see from the photo below what a bright sunny day it was.  Walking was quite hard as my eyes aren't good in low winter sunlight.  I get blinded so easily by it and am always concerned about walking into someone - or a lamp post!

Opposite the Cenotaph is the city hall and in front of the city hall is a fairly new sculpture

Women of Steel by sculptor Martin Jennings commemorates the women of Sheffield and South Yorkshire who worked in the city's steel and munitions works during both first and second world wars.

The statue was commissioned by Sheffield City Council and unveiled in June 2016 with over 100 of the women who worked in the factories present at the ceremony.   This bronze statue has just won a prestigious award, the Public Monuments and Sculpture Association Marsh award for excellence in public sculpture for the sculptor Martin Jennings who is also responsible for the sculpture of Sir John Betjeman at Kings Cross Station.

Into the Winter Gardens where we had a little wander around before going down to the cafe in the galleries for a coffee and sit down before we looked around the exhibition I had come to see.

I loved the light in the gardens streaming down from the arched roof.

I think the flowers above are Bromeliads, they were very colourful.

I was quite anxious to get into the exhibition whilst it was still quite quiet.  Cameras were put away as we wanted to concentrate on the things we saw.  I wasn't disappointed.

The exhibition, on tour from the Towner Art Gallery in Eastbourne, covers the work of Eric Ravilious and his contemporaries and friends from their first meeting at the Royal College of Art, where tutor Paul Nash commented that in those years there was a 'rare outbreak of talent ' amongst the students, to the time he was reported missing in Iceland in September 1942 where he had travelled as a government war artist for the RAF. The exhibition was collated and curated to commemorate the 75th anniversary of Ravilious's death.

Some of the group of friends eventually became known as the Great Bardfield artists.  Eric Ravilious and his great friend Edward Bawden are featured in this wonderful exhibition. There are also works from Helen Binyon, Barnett Freedman, Enid Marx, Thomas Hennell, Percy Bliss, Diana Low and Tirza Garwood who eventually married Eric Ravilious.  I was particularly struck by her wonderful interior works. The exhibition shows how the work of these artists could be found not just as paintings but in fabrics, wallpapers, book illustrations, woodcuts, book covers and end papers, programmes, newsletters, magazines and in ceramics too.  

It is a fabulous exhibition and well worth a visit if you are in the area.

Here are some links to see more

Millennium Gallery exhibition

Eric Ravilious - Wikipedia

Tate Gallery

Photo Scavenger Hunt - October

It's nearly the end of October so I'm joining in with Hawthorn at I live, I love, I craft, I am me blog with this month's Photo Scavenger Hunt.

The words for October are

Making

Empty

Starts with an F

Paper

Neat

Street

Kettle

Unexpected

Vase

My Own Choice

************

Making - Banana Bread, a recipe from my old BeRo book.  It's a good recipe for using up old ripe bananas, it has walnuts in the mixture too and is definitely a cake rather than bread.  Lovely with afternoon tea.

Empty - a clean, empty drain under the steps up to 13 Oak Cottages, the worker's cottage at Quarry Bank Mill, Styal, Cheshire.

Starts with an 'F' - Fungi and Fly Agaric spotted at Trentham Gardens early in October.

Paper - Also at Trentham Gardens a paper notice pinned to a board near where Georgina the gardeners' black cat has her little house.  She was adopted by the workers there and was always on hand to greet visitors who made it up to the top of the Italian Gardens near the ruins of the old house.  She has been taken home by one of the gardeners so that she can enjoy her old age in peace and quiet.

 Neat - a preening Egyptian Goose on the JCB lake near Rocester, it will soon be looking neat and tidy.

Street - Rosslyn Road in Longton lit by morning sunlight. The building just behind the wall is the library.

Kettle - more than one kettle in a display at a kitchen shop in Bakewell.  I think one of these would last for ages.  We use a Le Creuset cast iron casserole which was given us as a wedding present 38 years ago two or three times a week.

Unexpected - last week when I pulled up the blind on the landing window I spotted the above scene.  What on earth?  We get squirrels and foxes in the garden plus cats but non of them would have caused that amount of destruction and anyway they all jump over the fence if they have to.  There were claw marks on some of the shattered pieces of wood and a latrine hole in one of the raised beds.  Got to be a badger,  Bad badger!  There are tons of ways in and out of the garden but you had to fight your way through a solid fence, we've mended the fence but left the runs for now as we don't want the fence to be broken again.

Vase - a vase of flowers at Whightwick Manor near Wolverhampton taken earlier this year when we met friends there for a visit and lunch.

My Own Choice - another goose just because I like them.  This one is a Barnacle Goose, one of many at the JCB lake at Rocester.

Click on the link below to find other bloggers who are joining in this month.

Contrasting Lifestyles - Part Two

Quarry Bank House which stands at the side of the mill,  opened for the first time to visitors last week.  We saw it on the second day of opening which was a real treat.  I'd been watching out for when both 13 Oak Cottages and Quarry Bank House would be open so we could visit both at the same time.

I'd often looked at the house as we walked from the mill up into the garden and wondered what it was like inside.  I think it was owned privately until fairly recently when the National Trust were finally able to take it over.  I've just realised that with not going into the Mill itself this time and also with it pouring with rain we didn't take the usual path around the mill into the gardens and therefore I didn't take a photo of the house as a whole.  You can see what it looks like - here

 What impressed me most inside was the symmetry of the design, everything curving with no harsh edges.

In the entrance hall the doors to the rooms of were curved as you can see from the photographs below.

It was light and airy and the softness of the curves felt very soothing and peaceful.

At the moment the house is sparsely furnished which adds to the rather minimalist elegance of the rooms.  It is all very tasteful and very much a Georgian rather than Victorian home.

On the left as you enter is Samuel Greg's office and study, right next to the mill so he could look out over it.  Samuel and Hannah Greg lived in Manchester but spent holidays with their young children at a farm near the mill and Hannah in particular wanted to leave Manchester and live nearby so Samuel began the building of the house near the mill in the neo-classical style.

The first part of the house was completed by the 1800s and in 1803 Samuel had more rooms added to the smaller house.  At the moment there are only the three rooms open to view but they are rather splendid ones.

The volunteer we spoke to said that it had been intended to open the upstairs rooms but the staircase proved to be difficult.  It is a wooden, cantilevered staircase and it was found that even with just a few people going up and down each day cracks had appeared in the structure so it was decided not to allow people upstairs at the moment and as the house is listed a lift couldn't be installed either.

There is a wonderful curved bay window in the dining room overlooking the gardens.

As you can see it was very wet outside!

The drawing room too is light and elegant.  Here Hannah Greg ruled.  According to the volunteer we spoke to Mrs Greg, who was a great believer in education for all and who made sure her daughters were as well educated as her sons set up a literary and philosophical society for her children and as part of this each child had to write and submit a paper which was placed in a box and one chosen at random which would be read and discussed.

Apparently there was a service wing added in 1814 to house servants and also the nursery for all the children of which I think we were told there were thirteen.  This part of the house doesn't exist anymore as it was demolished in 1963.  Still in the cellar of the main house, although again not available to view at the moment, are the kitchens, laundry and other service rooms.

I hope you have enjoyed just a little peep into both  newly opened houses.  I think we will go back again next Spring to see how things have progressed.  I have put links over the names of both Hannah and Samuel Greg above so you can find out more about them.  Hannah in particular is very interesting to read about.