After two days of ridge walks and including the climbs up to them it was very pleasant to take things more gently on the Sunday of our Sheffield stay. After a lazy morning and lunch out on the terrace of the Rivelin Park Cafe we drove over to Dam Flask Reservoir, parked on the Dam and headed in a clockwise direction to Low Bradfield.
Peak District Walks by John Merrill (1976)
Decisions! Decisions! Which walk should I choose? I found it difficult to decide between one which started from the National Trust’s Longshaw Estate and another which began in Castleton. The variety offered by the Mam Tor walk won the day and we set off bright and early last Saturday for the 14 mile drive to Castleton. This was to be a totally different walk from the day before – no literary connections. But then we parked up and there, towering above us, was Peveril Castle. Of course, ‘Peveril of the Peak‘ by Sir Walter Scott.
It’s hard to believe that our younger son has been living at his cottage on the edge of Sheffield with the Peak District and Ladybower Reservoir on his doorstep for three years already. His neighbour owns a holiday rental cottage in the same terrace and I finally managed a few nights stay there last weekend. The location has the best of both worlds – near to the vibrant and cultured city of Sheffield and yet just a short drive from the beautiful Derbyshire Dales/Peak District National Park. The outlook from the cottage is pastoral and peaceful. And there is perhaps too much choice when it comes to excursions to fill three full days.
North Lees Hall
On a previous visit to South Wales I picked up an older edition of this leaflet. My original copy has no date and listed only 15 churches. The new leaflet now includes 17 the additional 2 being Wernffrwd, St David’s and Penclawdd, St Gwynour. Both in north Gower and neither of which we visited. Quotations, in italics, are taken from my Churches Trail leaflet.
We found Saturday afternoon’s walk in a leaflet “Walking By Bus“. It’s one of a series issued by the City and County of Swansea. The bus service was infrequent so we drove from Rhosili to Llanmadoc car park (£1 honesty box). The north Gower coast is different in character from the south and is estuarine rather than the open sea of Swansea Bay. This area of North Gower is owned and managed by the National Trust. The map below shows the extent of Whiteford Burrows Nature Reserve.
Last week I met with two Welsh friends and we spent a few days on the Gower Peninsula, mainly hiking but also having a very sociable time which included good food home cooked, good pub grub, attendance at a performance of The Swansea Accordion Orchestra in the local Village Hall at Port Eynon on the Saturday evening and visits to a good few churches.
Never having visited Glasgow before, I was delighted when Ann suggested a weekend visit to the city. Gosh! Mackintosh! His work is everywhere. I was familiar with his flower paintings created during his time in Walberswick in Suffolk. Last year I read Esther Freud’s ‘Me and Mr Mac’ a fictionalised story of his time there.
Early morning view of Florence from the Boboli Gardens Terrace
Friday morning dawned dry and promising so, having foregone a wet afternoon there on Thursday, I decided to get packed and hurry over to the Pitti Palace and gain entry to The Boboli Gardens when they opened at 8.15. This gave me about an hour and a half to walk around, check out the most significant features and return to the apartment to collect my bag by 10am and head to the Railway Station to pick up our bus to Pisa Airport. Continue reading
If only you could sniff this blog and smell the signature scent of Santa Maria Novella pot-pouri currently filling Miladys Boudoir!
Just over a year ago I was one of the lucky winners of a prize draw on another (now no longer in existence) blog “The Old fashioned Girls“. One half of the duo, Miranda, no longer an old-fashioned girl, now blogs as “Miranda’s Notebook.” The prize was a year’s free subscription to The Perfume Society. As I love perfume I was very happy and after the first year renewed my subscription and was pleased to have the opportunity to choose more boxes of scents to try. In addition to the discovery boxes the Society organise events and send out a weekly newsletter. It was here that I discovered a section “The World’s Best Scent Shopping Cities” and one of these is Florence.
As we boarded the number 7 bus opposite San Marco we appreciated that it was good to sit down for a while. The journey up to Fiesole takes about half an hour. And all was quiet when we got there. We chose to visit Fiesole on the Wednesday because that was the only day that didn’t threaten rain although it often looked very likely. We got off the bus in the main square and noticed a considerable drop in temperature. We soon found a little bakery where we chose a savoury pastry each followed by some little sweet cakes and tea. Refreshed we then began our tour of Fiesole.
The Piazza Mino da Fiesole Continue reading
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