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| At Stanedge Pole - with top section removed |
Our offspring have been at home this long Easter weekend. Knowing I would have the Sunday dinner to make later on, I was keen to have a bit of exercise beforehand so I drove up to the reservoirs at Redmires intending to walk along the old drovers' track to Stanedge Pole. It's a route that the Romans also used as they moved between settlements at Templeborough and Buxton via Brough in The Hope Valley.
The pole is an important moorland landmark and would have once guided the travellers of bygone times. When I got up there I was unhappy to find that the old wooden pole is now half the size it once was. There's a notice affixed to the remaining stump. explaining why The Peak National Park Authority decided to remove the top part of the pole. Apparently it was getting dangerous. Well, I hope they erect an extension before too long.
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| Long Causeway - an ancient track |
The most westerly property within Sheffield's city boundaries is up on the moors near Stanedge Pole. It is called Stanedge Lodge and was built in the nineteenth century as a hunting lodge for grouse shooters and wealthy revellers. I would love to have a look round it but public access is forbidden. I believe it now has a commercial use - as some kind of training centre.
After my little jaunt it was back home to prepare the leg of lamb. I made incisions and squeezed in fresh sprigs of rosemary and little spears of garlic before seasoning it and splashing a little rapeseed oil over the surface. Three hours in the oven and then there were roasted potatoes, carrots, spring cabbage, broccoli, Yorkshire puddings, mint jelly and gravy. Another feast to commemorate Jesus's crucifixion. Lamb for the lamb of God.
Stanedge Lodge
I have looked at the lodge many times. I have never seen anyone there. If you go on a warm day it is a good place to find adders.
ReplyDeleteI think Stanedge Lodge may be used by MI5. I have seen vehicles going up there and once crept through the woods to get closer to it. It would make a great location for an intriguing TV drama. Never seen an adder up there but I believe you. They are probably trained to kill by MI5.
DeleteThere is a car there next to the house, if you look closely at the last picture. So someone must be there occasionally.
DeleteSuch places are so intriguing! Neil, I would have crept through the woods with you to get closer! Do you think they'd have arrested us, resulting in a diplomatic skirmish with Germany?
YP, I thought you were an atheist?
ReplyDeleteGood golly Miss Molly! Don't worry, I was being ironic....God! God! Are you there? (No response as usual)
DeleteAs our heavenly Father, God is perfectly within His rights to ignore your smart mouth, YP. Would your father put up with such insolence?
DeleteJeremiah 29:13 says "You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart." I suspect He knows your heart quite well.
I saw a piece of artwork on Facebook yesterday that summed the "holiday" for me: Three fellows suffering on crosses on a hill in the background and the words "Happy Easter" in the foreground. This is one time when the pagan tradition of celebrating spring just doesn't mesh with the Christian religious thing. Meanwhile Isis and their ilk go around sacrificing students and other plain people so the rest of us can pretend we're safe? Did they also die to save us? Turning anyone's death into a holiday celebration, which is after all only a way for stores to make money, just doesn't set well with me. Getting together with your family to just celebrate Spring seems more fitting. The true meaning of the religious Easter seems a more mournful thing to me.
ReplyDeleteI hadn't thought of it that way Jan. You often put a different spin on things.
DeleteEaster is traditionally celebrated as Jesus' resurrection from the dead - It is not His death we celebrate, but His life.
DeleteFunny that even though people choose not to believe in God or if they do, to not believe that Jesus was the Son of God, they still feel the need to celebrate Christian holidays themselves (Easter, Christmas).
Many folks "celebrate" these holidays because they are times when everyone has a day or two off from work or school. The original purpose of the holiday is not the reason.
DeleteIf the truth be known, Christians simply latched their new-fangled festivals on to existing pagan festivals so I have no qualms whatsoever in for example celebrating Christmas, To me it is simply the mid-winter festival.
DeleteYou had a great menu for your Easter meal.
ReplyDeleteThank you Red. There was a place set for you but you never arrived so I put your food out for the fox.
DeleteI hope you had a lovely Easter, Yorky with your family around you. Your roast dinner sounds delicious! :)
ReplyDeleteIt would have even passed your culinary judgement Lee!
DeleteAhhh...there's nothing quite as good as a roast dinner, Yorky...and especially when lamb is the main attraction! :)
DeleteLovely photos as usual especially the large one and that lamb sounds great. Was it a large leg or did you just slow cook it, three hours seems a long time?
ReplyDelete