Blogs from Chesterfield, Derbyshire, England, United Kingdom, Europe - page 16

Suzy has been hunkered down here at Delamere Camping and Caravan club site for the last four days. We have booked another four as we still have no idea what is happening with our move. Our purchase has stalled due to the unadopted road and emails are flying back and fro between solicitors to try to clarify the position. We are even looking at the vendors having to provide us with an Indemnity policy which would compensate us if we ever had any problems using the road to our new property. Not a situation we want to be in as we have lived on a private road before and it caused no end of misery. It is my last week at work and the new job is looming large just around the corner. The weather is ... read more

After our visit to Hardwick Hall we headed down under the M1 a couple of times to Stainsby Mill. Still Suzy-less we parked up on the small car parking area which mainly meant we left the car on the grass. It was very quiet as most visitors were driving past heading up to the Hall.The building is built in the same mellow stone as the hall and was built by the Chatsworth Estate and served the estate with flour and products for the animals. The best of the white flour produced by the miller was for the estate and the rest the brown stuff for the lesser mortals who had no need for refined flour.The mill is small and intimate and on the ground floor a water mill. The building was built in antiquity but as ... read more

27 SEP 2010 - MONDAY SHOPPING IN MEADOWHALL, LAST NIGHT IN SHEFFIELD Another cold and wet day in Sheffield. With Mark away for the day at work, Tracy and Jean introduced us to Meadowhall shopping centre - or “Meadowhell” as the locals call it. There we were able to discover the delights of English department stores - Primark (“Primani”), Marks & Spencer, Debenham’s, H&M, and more... Little Cocky found a Busby outfit (Queen’s Home Guard) for his Build-a-Bear, and we found Possy’s Christening outfit in Monsoon. Poppy found a soft monkey for Possy in Mothercare, she loved it and snuggled straight into it for a sleep. Our last dinner in Sheffield was cooked for us by Mark, with help from Cocky. Buritos and nachos, with fancy ice-cream for desert, mmmm!!!! We gave the kids a fairly ... read more

Since coming to England I have wanted to see the location where the movie Pride and Prejudice was filmed and it is located in the Peak district which I have also wanted to see. It wasn’t until my last week in England that I had a chance to plan a trip up to Chatsworth house to see it. The reason it took so long for me to go is that it kind of takes a bit of work to get there. First I took a train to Chesterfield. Once in Chesterfield I had to find further transportation to Chatsworth. The bus I needed to take to the next town over didn’t leave for about an hour so I walked around the town and saw the flea market set up in the middle square. People were selling ... read more

The blog is up and running!! ooh err! A warm welcome to anyone who is interested in our mid-life "me/us time" gap- year - and -a -half -ish. We are Martin and Donna , married for 28 years and finally got the opportunity to spend some our two boys' inheritance on a long term touring caravan trip around Europe starting Sept 2nd 2008. Martin finally retires on the 31st of this month after 30 years service in the Police. I (Donna) am employed as Police civillian staff as a fingerprint Expert and I am very lucky to be allowed 18 months off work on career break from Sept 1st. After a particularly tiresome day at work for both of us last September-ish we sat in a pub after work and said " Wouldn't it be so ... read more