One of northern England's loveliest and mildest autumns ever gave way to the creeping greyness of another dreary December. Drizzle. Short days. Nature drawing itself inwards. Gloves and hats and pasty faces. Someone coughing at the bus stop. These are not the sort of days when you want to be out and about enjoying the countryside.
However and even so and nonetheless, the weather forecast promised sunshine this morning and it dutifully arrived to banish the gloom - if only for one day. So I was out again for a couple of hours roaming around the Longshaw Estate to the south west of Sheffield.
I remember when Ian was a cub scout, he spent a weekend with his troop at a ramshackle old house on the moors. In those days, the isolated stone lodge - a former gamekeeper's cottage - had no modern conveniences and the boys slept in their sleeping bags on the old floorboards with a roaring log fire in the grate as howling winds whistled outside. Since then, the house - White Edge Lodge - has been repaired and refurbished by the National Trust and is available for rent as a holiday cottage. This is it:-
And here are two other pictures I took today on the Longshaw Estate:-
Beyond this gate you can see the shape of Carl Wark - a mysterious Iron Age hill fort that may have its true origins in the Neolithic period. There are structures up there built way back in the mists of time though most archaeologists agree it was never a human settlement as such - possibly just a fortified refuge - perhaps with some religious/ritualistic significance. I was going to go up there today but the gentle stream in the valley had become a torrent and I didn't fancy being washed down to Grindleford. Another time I think.
I don't think the picture above will enlarge - one of the quirks of posting pictures via Blogger but when I transferred it from my camera to the computer screen I said "Wow!". It was surely the best photograph I snapped today. It was taken from the Longshaw Estate looking to the north west and The Dark Peak where you can just make out a dusting of snow on those faraway hills.
Surprisingly more winter sunshine is expected tomorrow before we return to the greyness.
Is White Edge Lodge the building you can see from the A625? I really liked the silhouette shot.
ReplyDeleteAlso the last 'wow' landscape with the sun on the field and deeper colour of the clouds in the distance. Personally, I'd crop it slightly from the bottom, maybe a 16:11 ratio?
look like the house in the new Jane Eyre film....
ReplyDeleteGlad you got the chance of a walk today, YP. It was sunny here for a couple of hours too but I was seeing clients. By the time I had finished, it was back to the grey cloud.
ReplyDeleteMR PARROTS Thank you for your constructive criticism. I wanted to keep the bottom of the picture because of farm vehicle tracks that you can't see easily in the little Blogger version and yes - White Edge Lodge can be seen from the A625 as you pass.
ReplyDeleteEARL GRAY I have not seen that film but White Edge Lodge is certainly a striking place in its sturdy but glorious isolation.
JENNY I hope you don't mean clients in the Cynthia Payne sense!..Ha! Ha! Maybe you should say to some of your clients - What you really need is a vigorous walk in the countryside then so many of your troubles will disappear - at least for a while.
Lovely photos, glorious colours. Lovely sunshine today - wish I'd been out in it, but I was working, of course. I love my work but on days like this - - -
ReplyDeleteLove the one with the gate YP. Delightful. Glad you are having some good weather before Christmas.
ReplyDeleteCheers