In June 2024 we stayed in the Peak District at Hawksbridge Holiday Cottage which was part of Hawksley Farm, Heaton, Rushton Spencer. Here are some photos:
This is Little Moreton Hall, near Congleton.
This is inside the Blue John Cavern near Castleton. Blue John (a semi-precious stone) is very rare. In fact, the caves within one hill outside Castleton are the only places in the world in which it can be found
Although no-one really knows why the stone is called "Blue John", one theory is attractive - the stone itself is more purple than blue and the story goes that the French named it "Bleu Jeune" (Blue Yellow) because they had no word for purple. Eventually this "Bleu Jeune" became "Blue John"
The photo above shows what a seam of raw blue john looks like
On the cavern walls there are many fossilised sea-creatures
This is the hillside beneath which lies Blue John Cavern
Less than 10 miles from where we were staying was the rock outcrop known as the Roaches. We hiked up to the top and walked along the ridge that they form. The first part we went to is known as "Hen Cloud". The photo above is Pat as she was walking up to Hen Cloud
I had to shout over to Pat, "Stop!" as she was getting too close to the edge and could easily have slid off
Having climbed to the top of Hen Cloud, we made our way down and then back up to go along the next part of the Roaches
On our visit to Trentham Gardens, near Stoke-on-Trent, we were surprised to find "Monkey Forest". It's an area of the estate where Barbary Macaques are free to roam and intermingle with their human visitors. We were fortunate that none of them wanted to get up to any antics!
Another house that we visited was Haddon Hall, near Bakewell
The Danebridge Annual Fete was taking place the day we arrived on our holiday. I couln't resist the tractors!
This photo is of the River Dane just near to the bridge at Danebridge. We walked to Lud's Church from Danebridge and back
And this is Lud's Church. It's not really a church - it's just a geographical feature. Many stories are associated with it. One of the legends is that it was used as a hiding place by Robin Hood and Friar Tuck.