A Little Trip

To celebrate Chas' birthday we went down to Nottingham to our favourite pub, the Nelson and Railway, for a couple of nights.

On the way down we stopped at Matlock Bath but I left the camera in the car so we could not take any photographs. We did manage to sit outside a pub though and have a glass of cider.

On Thursday we went to Belton House which was featured in the BBC's Jane Eyre, Pride and Prejudice and Tom Jones. The weather was glorious and so we spent most of our time in the grounds but we did manage to get a trip in of the servants quarters before noon. We both really enjoyed seeing how they lived "below stairs" - dare I say I recognised some of the things in the kitchen? Whilst walking down to the lake we came across this tree and I thought it looked like a dinosaur with his front paws reaching out. Just had to take a photograph.

This is part of the courtyard doesn't it look lovely with the ivy growing around it.

Another tree which I liked was this weeping willow. Quite spectacular when you turned the corner and came across it with the sun shining on it.

Once down by the lake we found the boathouse which has been renovated. It was lovely to peer in through the leaded windows and stand on the balcony watching the fish and the beautiful blue dragonflies as they hovered over the water - there were lots of them.

We went into the main house about 3 pm and when we came out it had started to rain so we dashed back to the car and back to Nottingham.

On Friday we set off home in the drizzle but before we got to Bakewell the sun was out and we had a lovely walk by the river. The ducks and geese were going crazy, flying across the River Derwent and landing skidding along. Lots of people were busy feeding them with bread - no wonder they are so huge.