Derbyshire 128 - Days 73 and 74 Ashover - a very large parish/the Roundheads , the hall , the pub and the lead in the church window

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Days 73 and 74 - half way through another week . Had we been on holiday today would have been my first day back at work . I would have donned work clothes, set off and prayed that the no-one had changed the lock at work whilst I had been off . A whole months worth of e-mails would need reading. A months catch up with colleagues . The morning would have passed by very quickly before it would have been time to pop out and see what Chesterfield looked like . Instead Wednesday was another "normal " day of getting up early realising it was hump day and shopping day and working from home day.

The weather had changed dramatically. We had had rain overnight . Watering the gardens for us. Greening up the parched and dried lawns . The almost empty water butt refilled . But then I did not want rain . Waiting for the shop to open for my shopping in the rain felt cold and miserable. Imagine what lockdown would be like in the middle of a cold damp Autumn or a wet and snowy Christmas and New Year . Will we get to this point or will be out of lockdown I know what I hope for but it seems a long time coming . Shopping was the usual event . I was first in the queue waiting for the shop to open . I would have been first but I never like being the first so I walked to the door and then walked back to the car . I waited for a couple of other shoppers to appear and made my way to be third in. Shopping was a lot more civilised today than it was 11 weeks ago. No rush, no pent up frustration at empty shelves . There still seems gaps - flour and baking items mainly but everything else is there .

I managed no walk to day . No time before shopping and it was pouring down with rain when I got back . Being a working day the alarm had been set for a quiz at 9.30 in our morning buzz meeting . I scored badly. The music round went over my head - too much 90's music . At 10 the alarm was set for a Skype meeting which went on for an hour . After it I could have done with a walk to clear my head but the rain still fell in bucketloads . Perhaps it will go off this afternoon I thought . A walk on a wet fresh day might be nice . Something different . But even after dinner the rain continued to fall . Todays walk was being abandoned .

Yesterday after our walk up Ashover Rock we found ourselves in the village of Ashover itself . A quiet , mellow stoned village with a handful of shops . Glenn used to work a lot up here in the early 60's and remembered the small shop owned by Roma. He remembered the push bike rides up the narrow lanes that led to the village . He remembered working and then biking back .

With a population of just under 2000 the whole of the village feels like a film set . A conservation area where all the houses are built of mellow stone with stone roof tiles . We parked the car up at the village hall car park. There were a few people there walking their dogs over the field that becomes the home of Ashover Show . The doctors surgery next door should have been busy with patients but like all doctors surgeries since the outbreak of Covid 19 its doors remained closed . We walked down the main street . Builders were working on one ancient building which we later found out had been a girls school and now used by the church . The listed church was set in a wonderfully quiet and peaceful graveyard. Ancient tombstones were everywhere. A photographers paradise . Four of Florence Nightingales relatives were buried in the churchyard, Sadly a fact we only found out about too late. We headed for the church with its slender spire . It was locked as all churches are at the moment . Had it been open we would have found a Norman lead font luckily hidden from the Roundheadsl when they came to call on Ashover . The rector hid it in the garden which was lucky given that they wrecked the medieval glass in the windows and took out the lead to use as bullets. Inside we would have found tombs to the infamous family of Babbingtons descendents of a member of the family involved in the catholic plot against Elizabeth I.

The Roundheads headed for Eastwood Hall which they tore down and left in ruins . They drank a pub dry and threw out the landlord . The Crispin Inn was around when the men of Asher headed for Agincourt. The village -the largest parish in England has much to offer . An old village pump and a stoop used by riders to mount their horses .

We came to the end of the village and headed out past the local school which had re-opened this week to reception children and year 6. One mum was walking the pavement with her child skipping beside her.

What else was there to see in Ashover? - The Poets Corner a pub which constantly won the CAMRA real ale awards. Sadly closed at the moment . The Black Swan - also closed . On a normal day we might have popped into one of the pubs or cafes for a coffee or even stayed over for lunch. Perhaps when all this is over we will have that pint and lunch and we will get in to the church to see the inside of what sounds like a beautifully decorated interior .

I got my walking in many times today . My calendar came up trumps - I rather like this one as it rings true. "Walk as if you are kissing the Earth with your feet" Thich Nhat Hanh wrote a poignant thought of the day .

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