Passive Camping and other stories

I would have dearly loved to have gone camping this weekend, but the Dancing Queen didn't want to go - preffering to be with her friends (who can blame her!) and so I had to indulge in some passive camping. My sis and her hubby were camping at Birchover near Bakewell so we went and spent the day with them. Birchover is a great little village. It has loads of great walks nearby, a lovely village shop (with a lovely Swedish girl serving according to my brother in law!) and 2 great pubs - one of them (The Druids Inn) is a gastro pub!



We went a walk around Stanton Moor which has great views, and then

discovered the "Nine Ladies" circle. Apparantly the nine ladies were dancing on the sabbath and for this crime they were turned to stone. It was then back to the tent for a barbie before we reluctantly had to head off home. My brother in law has just lost his job, so they are staying out there for a few days more.

Today, hubby and I decided to become tourists on our own doorstep. Remember when I showed you Hoober Stand a few weeks ago?

Well, throughout the summer, it opens on Sundays at 2pm so that you can climb to the top and admire the absolutely amazing views of the South Yorkshire countryside. Once I got my breath back from climbing all the stairs, I had it whipped away once more by the totally awesome views.

It was very misty and muggy, but you can just make out Wentworth Woodehouse. We then headed over to another one of the Wentworth follies - the Mausoleum. This is a bit of a misnomer actually as no one is actually buried here. It was built to commemorate the earl of Rockingham who died in about 1783 and had 2 stints at being Prime Minister of England. He lived at Wentworth Woodhouse and is buried in York Minster. The Mausoleum is open from 2pm on Sundays in Summer too, so we had a good look around. Standing in the grounds of this really impressive building, it is so hard to believe that we are only 2 miles from home. It is in the middle of woodlands and so very tranquil.

This is the view across to the big house. You may have to double click to see it as it was a bit misty.

once inside, there is only one room, but the workmanship inside is very impressive. This is the ceiling.

And the stonework around the edge of the ceiling.

There are busts of all The Earls friends around the room.

And a very impressive marble statue of the Earl himself.

It was well worth a walk around. We travel miles sometimes to look around stately homes and great buildings, yet we often overlook the ones on our doorstep. Both the Mausoleum and Hoober Stand had fallen into disrepair and had both been affected by mining subsidence. The bloke showing us around the Mausoleum, said that the restorers had spent a lot of the restoration money under the building itself. The coal mining had been so near to the surface, that you could hear the machines at night, and this had left a huge cavern underneath the building. Very scarey indeed!

I made the "Pad Krapow Moo" as detailed by "Chez Pim" in my sidebar for tea. The kids loved the name!! and it was totally gorgeous. Of course, it is very difficult finding authentic ingredients for Thai food in South Yorkshire, so I had to substitute Thai Basil for ordinary majestic basil, and I threw a few of my sprouting Mung beans in to pad it out a bit, but it still tasted great. Give it a go.

My new banner is a photo of just a few of the heart shaped rocks, pebbles and pottery I have collected (I have more strewn all over the house). The ones in the banner are on my back doorstep, along with bits of driftwood, shells and other beach finds.

My previous banner was a photo I took of a heart that I made out of grass for my hubby displayed on the leg of his jeans.

Wishing you all lots of love. xxx