Thursday, September 17, 2009

UK pics

Here they are, the inevitable holiday photos.

We only had four days in the Peak District National Park in Derbyshire but we managed to see a few things and with the ease, and no processing cost, of the little pocket digital camera I ended up with hundreds of photographs.

We stayed in the largest village in the Peak Park, called Youlgreave. Like most English villages it's nestled in a valley (an interesting opposite to Italy where they're mostly on hilltops).



The village is built from the local stone and slate, old and new buildings alike, so there's an attractive overall style to the place:




What I'm told is listed in the Guinness Book of Records as the world's smallest detached house is in the main street.



Called Thimble Hall it's basically one room with a ladder up to a few planks which make a sort of mezzanine floor. It was once home to a family of eight.

The village has a thriving community with plenty of activities on a regular basis. By chance we were there on the weekend the Youlgreave Show was being held.

That's a typical English country show, with residents exhibiting all sorts of handicrafts and things they grow, competing for 'Best of ' certificates.

Best tomato for example...



Plenty of beautiful flowers in all sorts of categories...
And one for the kids to enter their sculptures made from vegetables...



A couple of visits to the only town in the Peak Park, Bakewell, home of the Bakewell Tart (delicious) and Bakewell Pudding (not my favourite taste).




We were there on Monday which is market day so the town was buzzing. Monday is also the livestock auction day and that's well worth a visit...



It also happened to be the weekend when the Chatsworth Show is on, held in the grounds of Chatsworth House, home of the Duke of Devonshire. It's another of the country shows that are held all over England in the summer, highlighting country activities and produce and offering all sorts of entertainment.


I was, naturally, attracted by the vintage car rally, this Jaguar being my pick of the fifty or sixty cars on show...


They had amusing demonstations too, like the sheepdogs showing off their skills herding a flock of ducks around obstacles in the arena...

Plenty of food and drink stalls...

Including of course typical traditional English items...


We spent some time driving around the countryside too. This really is beautiful country...





You come across interesting little shops in the villages, like this licensed slaughterhouse and farm butcher shop - the meat and things like sausages from this area are absolutely top quality.



There are some beautiful little villages dotted all over the Park, a typical one being Milldale:






Across that little ancient bridge and there's a beautiful riverside walk...


The weather was kind of OK too. When we were further south in Leicester for a couple of days working it rained non-stop, but up in Derbyshire we only had a couple of showers. It was generally cloudy with some sunny spells so we were able to be out sightseeing most of the time.

And that's it for a few days, we're off to Singapore this evening for Eid.


Eid Mubarak everyone.

13 comments:

Anonymous said...

Amazing coutry...so many places to explore and so many 'hidden treasures'.....

Proud to be British...but know that you scrape away the surface, the 'Green and Pleasant Land' becomes Green and Unplesant'....hence why no rush to go back.

Glad you saw some of the best countryside in the world......

The Ego said...

Nice pics!

Am coincidentally flying to around the same area in a little over 24 hours! Will be studying there for the next year :)

Dave said...

Wild boar curry can sometimes taste fairly "gamey" and not so good - did you try any??

Anonymous said...
This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
Seabee said...

Dave, no I didn't try Wild Boar Curry, nor would I because I think it's completely the wrong meat for a curry. I've had wild boar sausages several times though and enjoyed them.


(Anon comment removed because I've decided that I'll add 'stupid comment' to my list of reasons to delete).

Anonymous said...

Admin

You are not averse to running down Indians elsewhere on this site (regarding the fiasco in Australia) but aren't averse to hypocricy when having your excessively paid poncing around in the ME (with phenomenal levels of poverty) pointed out to you.

Seabee said...

Anon@5.18 I only have a few reasons for deleting comments. Yours deserves to be deleted under the heading 'stupid comments'.

In addition, the post is photos and a few words about the time I spent recently in the UK, so you're about as far off subject as it's possible to be.

I'll leave it in though, to remind readers of the level of crass stupidity that causes so much trouble in the world.

I'll take the time to answer you too.

I do not 'run down Indians'. If you somehow see that in any post, including the one you mention, it indicates that your mind is twisted and you need professional help.

You know nothing about me but you have the arrogance to comment about what I do. Never let ignorance stand in the way of shouting opinions.

In fact I'm neither 'excessively paid' (as I don't work, that's not why I'm in Dubai) nor do I 'ponce about' the ME or anywhere else.

This is the last time I'll bother with your infantile , disturbed rantings, they'll simply be deleted in future.

Anonymous said...

May I ask what camera you are using? The quality of the pictures are simply superb.

Ravi

Anonymous said...
This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
Rose in Dubai said...

Lovely pictures!

Hey is that anon ABIT off his drugs again?

Seabee said...

Ravi, it's a four years old Olympus C-170 with 4.0 megapixels. Just a little, convenient, pocket-size camera.

Anon, I told you your infantile , disturbed rantings will simply be deleted in future. Find another platform for them.

Anonymous said...
This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
Anonymous said...

I moved back to the UK from Dubai 8 years ago and live close to the places you visited, it truly is beautiful, there is far too much bad publicity about the UK but Im glad we have a democratic society where we can speak freely without being afraid!! Still miss Dubai and not here to dirty its name but there is too much gloss covering the truth over there everyone knows things go on but hide their heads in the sand pretending everythings wonderful!!