Sheffield's southwestern suburbs sprawl towards The Peak District and the rural lanes of northern Derbyshire. Within ten minutes of our house, Clint can whisk me to the starting points of several circular suburban walking routes that I have worked out over the years.
Yesterday morning, I got out for one such walk before I had to set to preparing the family Sunday dinner.
I parked at the end of Totley Hall Lane. Clint said, "Don't be long!" and indeed I wasn't. The walk only took eighty minutes but it was good to get out with my boots on. I was once again experiencing the wonder of two legged motion that most of us take for granted. Looking back through this blog I note that I began a similar walk from the same spot back in March 2018.
In the image at the top of this blogpost, you can see Gillifield Wood with the pleasant suburb of Totley beyond and beyond that the Peak District hills. Through Gillifield Wood runs a stream called Totley Brook which in this district has long marked the boundary between Derbyshire and The West Riding of Yorkshire.
In the picture below, I haven't ambled far from the viewpoint of the previous photo. I was standing close to Woodthorpe Hall which Frances and Stewart considered as a wedding venue back in the summer of 2019 but in the end they made a much better choice.
If interested, here's the Woodthorpe Hall website. If the truth be known, you don't get much for your money there. You don't get to use the old hall itself and you have to pay extra for the erection of a wedding marquee. This isn't made clear in the promotional text.
Again, lovely vistas.
ReplyDeleteCounty boundaries : A kind of magic.
ReplyDeleteLiving on the Derbyshire-West Riding frontier, for instance.
And I like the drive from Gloucestershire (where sister lives) to Oxfordshire.
The landscape changes and sometimes I think the very wind & skies as well.
John Braine turned against Ted Heath when Heath abolished the Ridings.
Braine & Kingsley Amis on William F Buckley's Firing Line (YouTube).
The old Bradfordian had gone Right-Wing while Barstow remained a liberal.
*Firing Line with William F Buckley Jr : The Road Back.*
ReplyDeleteYouTube. Recorded on May 9 1970.
I was nineteen in 1970; it feels so close I will wake up tomorrow and ...
Is there concern about former farmland being turned into large housing estates and do these estates include public transport, medical facilities and other services?
ReplyDeleteIt is quite rare for developers to be allowed to build on green field sites. 50.7 million people lived in Britain when I was born and now it's 67.7 million. Far too many but it's the same in most countries.
DeleteActually, Britain's population increase in that time period isn't terrible. The U.S. population has pretty much doubled in the last 70 years!
DeleteThe New York Times had an article recently about the efforts of people in the UK to keep public footpaths and other access open, and it used a reservoir in Yorkshire as the prime example. It was interesting.
Considering the size of England and the increasing population I am pleasantly surprised that you haven't all been urbanised (suburbanised?)
ReplyDeleteFar too many people live on this island but we still have lovely countryside close by.
DeleteI hope you refrained from feeding the horses.
ReplyDeleteI brought them carrotburgers with fries.
DeleteThose views are all lovely and I like the idea of circular walking paths.
ReplyDeleteI always have to get back to Clint Elsie.
DeleteThe views across the fields and woodland is spectacular against the blue-grey rolling clouds, more than it would be under a clear blue sky.
ReplyDeleteYou are right but I still prefer blue skies.
DeleteNo nosey cows on this walk YP?
ReplyDeleteWhen we lived in our last house in the UK we had open countryside at the bottom of the garden, ideal for the dog walks. It was the same when we first came to live here, but now the local towns are expanding at breakneck speed, it won't be long before they all join up. Million euro homes for International investors and high walls everywhere.
Nothing stays the same does it Carol?
DeleteYou have so much countryside and great walks close to where you live. Is there good public transport to get to these outlying areas YP?
ReplyDeleteThere's a decent bus service between the city centre and Totley.
DeleteWalk anytime you can, it is so nice to move.
ReplyDeleteI'm glad you got out for a good walk. I can't imagine trying to walk in the heat we're having.
ReplyDeleteMy suburbia looks a lot different from your suburbia, Neil. We have some forest areas preserved for hiking but not such large vistas like that...
ReplyDelete