Blogs from Ashbourne, Derbyshire, England, United Kingdom, Europe

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Europe » United Kingdom » England » Derbyshire » Ashbourne October 4th 2018

Breakfast down in the quaint breakfast room was delightful. We ventured out at about half past 10, driving for half an hour through idyllic farming land. The roads were narrow, the villages picturesque, just beautiful countryside in the Peak District. We arrived at Chatsworth House, also known as the home of Mr Darcy in Pride and Prejudice, and Buckingham Palace in The Crown, but actually the English home of The Duke and Duchess of Devonshire (remember, we saw their Irish home some days ago?). We spent hours there, touring inside the house, and then walking around the gardens. It was just amazing. They’ve done a wonderful thing, opening their home to the public. The extensive collection of antiquities, art, statues, furnishings was marvellous. It wasn’t cheap to get in (£21 each) but the cost of the ... read more
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Europe » United Kingdom » England » Derbyshire » Ashbourne October 3rd 2018

This morning we ate our Sainsbury’s breakfast in our room, showered, shaved and were booked out of the hotel by about 9am. We wheeled our luggage around to Victoria Station and caught the Victoria Line on the tube to Euston Station. We then changed to the overland trains to get the Virgin train to Stoke. After one and a half hours, and averaging 200 kph we arrived and caught a taxi to the Thrifty car hire office. We had booked a BMW or similar category from Thrifty and were thrilled to find we have a Mercedes E220d - a long and sleek one, the grey ghost. It is a little different to ours, but easy to understand. And the nav girl is the same girl we have at home! So off we set. I was surprised ... read more
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Europe » United Kingdom » England » Derbyshire » Ashbourne January 4th 2017

A Chinese blessing recalls that "round the table peace and joy prevail. May all who share this seasons delight enjoy countless more". A particularly apt blessing for this time of year. We have been round the table, eating turkey with all the trimmings. Christmas pudding and crackers. The Christmas tree has been put up, decorated and taken down just before Twelfth Night. The Christmas cards have arrived, been inwardly digested and now fed up with all the glitter on the floor which falls from them they are reglegated to the recycling bin. Christmas has passed by for another year. The advertisements on the tv have invited us to order a new suite for Christmas delivery , 0% finance and if we did not want that we could try ordering one for Boxing Day with nothing to ... read more
Memorial to the dead of the 2nd World War
Memorial to Elizabethan gentry
Roof in the church

Europe » United Kingdom » England » Derbyshire » Ashbourne May 23rd 2016

Drove to Lichfield and toured the three towered Cathedral and wondered through the town. I found a delightful elderly lady running a coffee shop. I gave my typical..."on my gap year, forty years delayed" spiel, but she seemed genuinely interested, as I was the only person in her shop and she wanted to talk. When I ggot to the Seven Sidters part of our trip, she lit up. She was one of seven sisters and enjoyed having been there. Now on to the Peaks District, starting in Ashbourne. Where we walked the town, St. Oswald, and lunch at Jack Rabbit’s Ashbourne. Got to Ilam Hall YHA and got directions for the Dovedale Hike loop, which starts and ends at Ilam Park. Dovedale hiking trail starts along the River Dove, where you have to cross the river ... read more
Dovedale hike...Peaks District
St. Oswald - Ashbourne
Lichfield Cathedral

Europe » United Kingdom » England » Derbyshire » Ashbourne January 15th 2011

After a whistle stop tour of Mold, Sheffield, Lancaster and Ashbourne we are packed and ready to go. Our bags are surprisingly light, with some space leftover, which is making us think whether we should pack some more! However, we do want some space leftover for things we might pick up along the way. We fly tomorrow at 3.50pm from Manchester to Delhi and then 8.50pm we board our flight to Delhi to arrive there at 10.40am local time. India is 5.5 hours ahead of the UK. This will be our travelling blog for the next 4 months or so. If you subscribe, you will get an email notification when we update this blog, or you can keep checking back, its up to you! See you in 4 months!... read more

Europe » United Kingdom » England » Derbyshire » Ashbourne August 15th 2010

I can't say that we were sad to leave Barnsley. I would say that the fact that we were on the road by 10am says a lot about how eager we were to be at our next destination. We were staying on a site called Callow Top. We have visited it many times before in a tent but this would be our first time in a caravan. It has its own traditional pub which brews its own award winning ale - nothing to do with why Andy enjoys visiting - honest! We had been especially looking forward to coming here this time as our good friend Mandy and my god son George were visiting for a few days. They are from Shrewsbury so this would be the last chance we had to spend some time together ... read more
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Europe » United Kingdom » England » Derbyshire » Ashbourne August 16th 2008

It's now only 16 sleeps to leaving home. Martin's retirement dos have been and gone....all three of them.........thanks so much to those of you who helped to make each one of them special. The pension lump sum has also arrrived which means; WE GOT THE MORGAGE PAID OFF! How good does that feel?! Next big purchase was a new towcar. The boring old Mondeo had done its best but the clutch just wasn't up to the job and the 'van was always a bit too heavy for it. So we commited eco suicide and bought a 4X4. Fuel prices road tax and global warming...yeah we know; upsizing is swiming upstream but we look at it this way: We only live once. Fuel is cheaper abroad (-ish) Fuel is not going get cheaper, if we don't do ... read more

Europe » United Kingdom » England » Derbyshire » Ashbourne September 26th 2007

Got up early and headed out into the Birmingham rush hour traffic. Talk about take your life in your hands; nearly got killed three times at the same roundabout. Unlike London they don't really go in for traffic lights at roundabouts and on a bike it becomes lethal. We've also discovered a large number of people drive like twats, it really makes you reassess how you drive in relation to cyclists. It was so cold this morning that we ended up stopping in Sutton Coldfield and buying some tracksuit bottoms (well OK leggings - but we look the nuts in them and they're warm so we don't care!) The guys in the shop were brilliant and gave us a good deal because we were dong it for charity and I'll put the name of the shop ... read more




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