Cromford and onto Hardwick Hall

 

Thursday 14th October 2021

A very peaceful night was, as expected, rudely interrupted around 5am by the local cockrel waking up his brood of hens in a very vocal way.

But I can excuse that, there are many other ways I prefer not to be woken, so a cockrel isn't that bad in the scheme of things.

After breakfast I took Louis on a walk along the Cromford canal and I must say the countryside is spectacular around here.

Lots of wildlife, I'd like to say I saw a kingfisher, but it was such a fleeting glimpse, to claim it as a sighting might be stretching things.

I might have been mistaken. But I'm sure I saw a brief flash of blue so that'll do for me. 

I hung around to see if it came back but no such luck.

So then it was pack up and head off to Hardwick Hall, an impressive Elizabethen country pile run by the National Trust.

The grounds are huge and the tree colours are fabulous at this time of year.

The house itself is all about the tapestries collected by Bess of Hardwick.

There isn't a lot of furniture on show but every room has these large sixteenth and seventeen century Belgium tapestries.

To be honest they don't do a lot for me, but I can appreciate their age and the hours of work that must have gone into creating each one. 

Apparently most of the work was done by the men, contrary to what I'd have thought.

The weather has been kind again today, dry, bright and occasionally a glimpse of the sun 🌞🌞🌞

So I happy with that.

I'm parked up for the night on cycle trail carpark near Mansfield and it looks to be a decent location, with a nice dog walk on the doorstep.

Morning walk on the Cromford canal 

Morning walk on the Cromford canal 

Morning walk on the Cromford canal 

Morning walk on the Cromford canal 

Morning walk on the Cromford canal - clear water

Morning walk on the Cromford canal - clear water

Hardwick Hall

Hardwick Hall

Hardwick Hall

Hardwick Hall

Hardwick Hall Gardens

Hardwick Hall Gardens

Hardwick Hall Gardens

Hardwick Hall Gardens

Hardwick Hall Gardens

Hardwick Hall Gardens

Hardwick Hall Gardens

Hardwick Hall Gardens

Hardwick Hall tapestries

Hardwick Hall more tapestries

Hardwick Hall even more tapestries

Hardwick Hall yet more tapestries

Hardwick Hall tapestries, yawn

Hardwick Hall tapestries

Hardwick Hall tapestries

Hardwick Hall oh, a carefully lit piece of Elizabethan furniture

Hardwick Hall back to the tapestries

Hardwick Hall Gardens

Hardwick Hall Gardens

Tonights parkup near Mansfield