It was another circular walk and rather delightful too. I saw many things including the village of Riber which is overlooked by Riber Castle - built as recently as 1862 under the instructions of a nineteenth century industrialist called John Smedley who made his fortune through textiles and a successful milling business. In the decades after his death, the gothic castle was used as a boarding school, later a wartime warehouse and later still it was the epicentre of a zoo. The most recent project has seen developers creating luxury apartments.
A nearby hamlet is called Hearthstone which in my opinion is a smashing name for a peaceful settlement high above the valley of The River Derwent.
It was a lovely day. I walked for almost three hours so I did not overtax myself as I sometimes do - often reaching Clint like a legionnaire who has just trudged across The Sahara Desert. Today I still felt fresh and could have easily walked another five miles.
I steered home via Chesterfield - in plenty of time to make our evening meal. New potatoes, tenderstem broccoli and slices of cold beef with the same homemade gravy we had at our Sunday dinner table with Stewart, Frances and Phoebe in attendance. She tried Yorkshire pudding for the very first time before tossing it on the floor. Sacré bleu!
What a picturesque walk! Three hours is a perfect amount of time to walk in my opinion. Unless there are lots of hills. My grandson throws stuff on the floor too, unless it's fruit which he loves. :)
ReplyDeleteYou are probably right about a three hour walk Margaret. We will have to give Phoebe more fruit. I wonder how she will get on with an unopened coconut or a pomelo.
DeleteDo you get to go in the castle and tour? 1862 must have been very late to build such a building as a castle.
ReplyDeleteYou might say that it is a fake castle Red - in the Gothic Revival style. No I did not venture into the grounds. It is currently a development site.
DeleteA beautiful walk in beautiful weather. Hearthstone farm looks very inviting, but I must admit I do wonder about the trend to add statues of Buddha to almost every garden.
ReplyDeleteInspector of Nuisances? Now that's a job title I wonder how many people show on their business cards these days!
You could be an Inspector of Nuisances Meike for I must admit that we have also got a Buddha in our garden! To me he is not a god but a good idea about how to live.
DeleteDerbyshire certainly does have some very picturesque areas, from what I can remember of it.
ReplyDeleteI like to think that attractive castle has not been allowed to crumble; at least converting it into apartments will ensure its survival.
Does Phoebe not know that Yorkshire puddings should be revered, not thrown to the floor!
She will learn this in time as she will learn the Yorkshire pudding hymns and prayers.
DeleteBetter that you enter the church and pray for forgiveness than just park nearby. It doesn't work by osmosis.
ReplyDeleteThe farmhouse is stunning. I wonder what it is like inside.
The words sanitary and deposits had me wondering. I suppose it is an original sign. Terrific that it has been kept up.
I would have prayed for forgiveness as I have committed many sins including depositing matter injurious to health behind shady hedgerows - but unfortunately the church door was locked.
DeleteHearthstone Farm has a gorgeousness of old England, if that makes sense. Of course it probably has modern plumbing!
ReplyDeleteAt least we have advanced in that way Thelma!
DeleteInteresting peaceful outing. Is the Riber Castle picture on a different day?
ReplyDeleteNo. It's the same day. I used a fair amount of "zoom" for that one Tasker.
DeleteThen you've got a dirty lens.
DeleteThe lens is always clean as the other pictures prove. You are seeing a difference because of the position of the sun and, as I suggested before, the loss of definition caused by significant zooming in. My camera has a 50x zoom facility.
DeleteExcellent photos YP, especially the one of the daisy. The Farmhouse looks chocolate box perfect in the sunshine.
ReplyDeletePhoebe is already showing her likes and dislikes, but she'll have to do better than that with Grandpa's Yorkshire puds! Has she been introduced to mashed banana yet?
Oh yes, she has had mashed banana but I think she thought that it was plaster.
DeleteLovely view of the castle from that distance, even if it sounds like it might perhaps be a bit of a disappointment on closer inspection (at least if one was expecting it to be older) The farmhouse looks more inviting :)
ReplyDeleteWhen you are down in the valley - in Matlock - Riber Castle towers above you. In that picture it was as if I was looking at the back door.
DeleteI, like Librarian, am intrigued by the job title "Inspector of Nuisances." I've known many nosy people who would love to have such a job, especially if they were allowed to be the ones to define what a nuisance was.
ReplyDeleteI should like to be an Inspector of Nuisances myself. I would also happily proscribe suitable punishments for the nuisances as part of my role. Anti-vaxxers, Donald J. Trump and Scruffy Johnson had better watch out!
DeleteI have a hard time not feeling intense jealousy at your ability to find all these spectacular circular walks close by. We don't have few such things here.
ReplyDeletePeople often fail to mention this but to me one of the best things about living in England is our 140,000 miles of public footpaths and England is smaller in area than Iowa!
DeleteWhat I would give to sit in the garden of Hearthstone Farm. It looks so peaceful.
ReplyDeleteIt did look lovely - a place that had evolved over time. No designer could ever put a place like that together.
DeleteShasta daisy my learned blog pal. That drystone wall is so beautiful.
ReplyDeleteThanks for the spelling correction Mr Northsider and please don't whack me with your cane sir!
DeleteHa! Phoebe will come around to Yorkshire pudding, I feel sure. Sounds like a terrific walk. The weather has been ideal for walking the last several days -- shame I've been stuck in a library!
ReplyDelete