A MAJOR EXCITEMENT!!!

The other night whilst "surfing" I found information that indicated that Wentworth Woodhouse is currently doing a few guided tours.  I called up the next day and managed to get Mr H and I booked on one nearer Christmas (when mince pies and mulled wine will be served too!!).  I had to call in this afternoon to pay for our tickets  to secure our places.  "Where about's should I come to pay" I asked.

 "Just come to the front door"  they said. !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!1

 So we have been and paid for our tickets and we cannot wait now.  We are so giddy!!!  As you know, up until now the doors have been firmly closed on this magnificent place and so we feel very excited.

 They seemed to be hosting some "Hunting, shooting or fishing" party this afternoon and the downstairs staff were scurrying about preparing a meal - the smells were gorgeous.  For a few moments, I felt that we had stepped into Downton Abbey.

This is more exciting than Christmas for me.

A walk - cut short

On Sunday, we set out early to walk a stretch of the Chesterfield Canal that we hadn't done yet.  We didn't do our research though! 

 We started at Hollingworth Hub with a full English breakfast at Nona's cafe and a lovely catch up gossip with Nona herself - such a lovely lady, then we started to walk Staveley way.  We did notice that the Canal looks more like a river here.

 We were relieved to find that this rater cronky looking bridge is reinforced beneath!  We walked on for a short while but then suddenly......

 the canal ran dry!  It turns out that this stretch has not been renovated yet and has been replaced by a new road at one stretch.  I will have to take a look and see what the plans are for this stretch.

 So we turned around and walked back through Staveley itself.  Staveley Hall is a lovely looking building.  Once a home for another part of the Cavendish family, it is now the local council offices.

 We walked back down by the canal - I liked this information board.

 As our walk had been cut short, we decided to visit nearby Chesterfield - a town I have only ever visited at night!

 I was very pleasantly surprised.  It was buzzing with Christmas shoppers and had a lovely atmosphere.  They have spent a lot of money on the town and it is a great mix of old and new.  I shall be making a return visit when it is market day.

 And you know what they say about its church with the crooked spire in Chesterfield don't you............

....it will straighten back up when a virgin gets married in it.

Bolsover Castle

Hubby is on the mend and on Saturday we managed a day out locally to stop him going completely stir crazy.  We both love the outdoors and its been so frustrating to not get out and about as much.  He still has a bad pain in his lung, but it is gradually getting better.

We decided to visit Bolsover Castle (pronounced Bow-zer locally).  To my great shame, we have driven passed this on the M1 about a million times, but never stopped off to have a look.  It took us just 20 minutes to get there from home and I can't believe we have never been before!

 It is a gorgeous place and really unique.  The owner William Cavendish built it in the 1600's as his "Pleasure Palace" .  His main house was at Welbeck, about 8 miles away!

 We had the audio tour which was free (like telephones) and we learned a lot about William.  He really loved the ladies, but he loved horses more.

 He had this indoor arena built so he could ride his horses dressage style indoors.  It was amazing inside.

 We got there pretty early and we were on our own for a while.

 When I entered the horse riding bit (on my own) I got really freaked out - they had sound effects on and I could hear horses starting to gallop towards me.  Mr Heartshaped thought the look on my face was priceless!

 They had some great information boards that showed how the ruins would have looked....

 And it was interesting to compare these to how they looked today.

 The audio tour made it really interesting, telling us the story of how the King and Queen had been guests and the party that they had put on for them would have cost over One Million pounds in today's money.  Unimaginable!

 The castle stands on the edge of a huge rock mass and the views from the top are spectacular.
The "Little Castle" is in better shape than the rest and is very well preserved.

 It was quite spooky walking around though, especially as we were still on our own at this stage, and they had a few very eerie sound effects.  I am easily spooked!

Bolsover Castle is owned by English Heritage these days and is a great place to visit if you are local, or passing by - I can highly recommend it.

Lest we forget

Today we will be remembering all those brave souls who gave their lives so that we can live in freedom.

Cenotaph in Barkers Pool - Sheffield

Weston Park

On a very grey day last Sunday, I took the invalid to look around Weston Park Museum in Sheffield.  He still couldn't stand being out in the cold much, so we had a good look around inside (but sadly we were not allowed to take photographs).

 There is a bit of everything in the museum.  Some Sheffield life (which I really love) including a great feature on Park Hill flats when they were first built and a wonderful section on the Attercliffe area of the city - when it was in its heyday.  It also has a great wildlife section and the special feature at the moment is about fairy stories.  We passed a good few hours.

 We decided to walk the long way back to the car (which wasn't very far), through the park itself.  The gorgeous bandstand is used to get married in these days - a great idea.

 We were interested in the tall monument.  Heed the warning about what happens when you move from Yorkshire to London!

 The stonework is so intricate and very beautiful.

 It would photograph better against a blue sky !!

 Not many of the flower beds remain now as they have all been dug over for winter, but this one still looks really pretty.

Grey Sundays are perfect for museum visits.

Twinkly Leeds

Before we went to our food tasting extravaganza, the DQ and I had a little look around Leeds.  As a Sheffielder, I am not supposed to say I like Leeds, and there are some aspects of it that I really don't like, but it does have the edge over Sheffield when it comes to shops.

 There are lots of very lovely little old arcades dotted about.

 And the Victoria Quarter is very very lovely.  It has gorgeous lanes to wander around in.

This arcade is already twinkling in its Christmas finery.

 Many of the shops are only for window shopping though!!!

 And then of course, there is Harvey Nichols!  This is as close as I was allowed to get to it though!!