But not forever so don't fret none ...... or celebrate depending on your feelings!!! :lol:

I'm off on my jollies this afternoon to spend a week in the Peak District -- just me, mum and the dogs. *Adopts fortune telling pose* I foresee an immediate future of lots of walking!!! :lol:

There's no guarantee I'll have 'net access, so if I don't get online to check up on you all. behave yourselves and I'll see you when I get back -- hopefully with oodles of photos -- probably mostly of hills and fields and stuff!!! ;)

So be good, and if you can't be good take pictures!!! ;) See you in a week -- unless I pop in for five minutes just before we leave!!!

H.
xx

Hi Han

Have a wonderful time. I love the Peak District, its so beautiful the dogs will love those long walks!

We expect a superlong blog with photos when you come back!!

Hasta la vista!!

Luv
Marlene

Awww. Cheers Brookster!! (hug)

I'll try my best although I imagine it'll run something along the lines of took a long walk, took another long walk, did some shopping, took a long walk, took a long walk, visited Karen and the boys, erm, took another long walk!!! :lol:

Have fun han, see you when you get back :)

Hva e a good jollys Han, i'll definetly see you when you come back, On the 14th don't forget! Bring your trilby! :lol:

Have a great time Han, looking forward to a full report on your return ;)

Thanks everyone!! Well I managed to get online but I think I'm piggybacking somebody's connection -- either that or this place comes with access and didn't say!! :lol: Guessing it'll be the former!! So I'm being very quick!! ;) Although that said they should be more careful pinning it down if they don't want people using it!! No doubt people do that to ours but we're uncapped so it's not like I run out of bandwidth or have to pay extra so, erm, ner!! :P

Anyway, got here eventually. Tallulah (the NEW Sat Nav) took me all round the houses to get here but I managed it!!! I may pop on from time to time if I can get away with it so you may see me it fits and starts, but I will get photos and stuff anyway!!

Cottage is very nice. It's a converted hayloft originally titled The Hayloft. Boycie's also found out he's not scared of climbing stairs and is now showing off!! :lol: Poor little mite's absolutely cream-crackered bless him but he was a very good boy in the car. He hasn't travelled this far since we got him but as long as he can see out the window he's fine!! ;)

Anywho, catch you later peeps!! Peace out and all that jazz!! ;)

Whoa Hamster!!!!

I saw your name in blue at the bottom of the start page and thought "she's gone on her holidays and left her computer running"...gave me quite a turn!

Glad you arrived safe, I hope it was as lovely there today as it is here in Essex.

Stay safe!

Luv
Brookster

Yes. I made it back from the wilds of deepest Derbyshire in one piece. Rested and, erm, relaxated (??) and not really wanting to go back to work on Tueday. I've yet to pick up Jazzy from her holiday cottage at my mates house, but thought, seeing as I spent the week doing it as I went along that I would post the full report of the happenings in Derbyshire over the last week along with the photos. So here goes:

Every time I go on a trip I promise a report and this time isn’t any different. So what did I get up to in deepest Derbyshire?!?!?!? I pretty much covered it in one of my earlier posts, but I’ll go into a bit more detail and there will be photos!! I reckon before too long I’ll need to set me up ANOTHER ‘bucket to accommodate all the pics!!! :lol:

So as you know, I set off on my jollies on Saturday. It was a relatively easy journey until I got within about 10 miles of where I needed to be – for some reason I got directed to a place called Mayfield, which was ‘fun’ :rolleyes:, so a journey that should have taken just over 2 hours (not accounting for the half hour I spent at Services trying to get Boycie to go to the toilet!!) ended up taking nigh on 3 instead. No fear though. It was a very nice place to stay. We were staying in Yeaveley, which consisted of one whole street, much like many of the ‘villages’ we passed through during the week. The cottage was part of a converted farm called The Park. As I mentioned we were staying in The Hayloft, which was nice and cosy and nicely done out. There were 3 cottages round what is now a courtyard – all former farm buildings!! Me and Boycie unpacked and settled in and waited for Mum and Belle to arrive – yes, we took 2 cars on holiday with us, but judging by the amount of space the dogs alone take up we needed it!! :lol: As I mentioned, Boycie discovered a new talent – he can cope with stairs as if he’s done it all his life!! Up and down them like a yo-yo all Saturday afternoon!!! ;) Weather was good to us while we were there. Perfect weather for walking -- nice and sunny, but not too warm. We got a bit of a breeze over the hills which made it bearable. The dogs got loads of attention while we were away, with most people thinking they’re rather large beautiful dogs, that Boycie was a Dalmation, and both getting copious amounts of fusses from complete strangers!! We should’ve charged people to give them a fuss!! :lol:

On Sunday we nipped into Ashbourne which was about 20 mins drive from us. It’s a typical olde worlde village (at least the bit we saw!!!) with lots of typical Derbyshire stone buildings which I took several piccies of because they are so nice, and a plethora (Oooh big word!! :lol:) of antiques shops. It’d be well at home on Midsomer Murders, and Hyacinth Bucket would love it!!! We then ventured into the Peak District National Park for the first time, to a place called Dovedale which was also very nice. We took the dogs for their first REALLY long walk. They both loved it but Belle isn’t as fit as she used to be and her poor ol’ legs started giving up the ghost on her, but Bless her, she made it back to the car with all four intact!! ;)

Monday we did stately homes – or rather the grounds of stately homes!! First we went to Kedleston Hall. A National Trust property (like most of them appear to be these days – and they have really c*** gift shops!!! :lol:) with copious amounts of green, sheep and water!! We then went to Calke Abbey. More green, more sheep, less water!! :lol: Left Mum with the dogs outside the area where the house was and went for a wander. It’s typical Derbyshire Dales country. Read: Hilly. You have to walk down a hill to get to the main house, just to walk up a hill to get to a church ...... and back again!! Almost died walking round there :lol:. We started heading for home soon after that!! :lol:

Tuesday – more walking. Headed into Ilam, which is again in the Peak District National Park, about ¾ of a mile from Dovedale. Not quite as nice in my opinion being more ‘man-made’ than Dovedale. Spent £1 on an A4 piece of paper which passed for a map (which, might I add, we couldn’t and didn’t follow – stiles are not made for Great Danes!! :lol:) and was then killed by Boycie. Now what I mean is that, again, we have classic Derbyshire Dales country, and we got the rather long hill which Boycie proceeded to drag me up at high speed. Now I’m not the fittest of people, and I came to Derbyshire with a cold and a bad back …… see what I’m saying?? I could hardly breathe when we eventually got to the top!! We took a quick diversion to the supermarket and that was us done for the day again as it was getting a bit chilly and looked like it was set to rain – it didn’t though!! We had Hot Chocolate and doughnuts just in case though!! ;) :lol:

Wednesday was a bit of a washout to all intents and purposes. It seemed everywhere that we planned to go were strictly no dogs allowed – guess too many people took their dogs into the grounds and didn’t clean up after them. First there was Sudbury Hall. Could have SWORE it said dogs were OK on the National Trust website, but we got there and were collared by a very nice (when I say ‘nice’ I mean ‘kind’) man who told us that dogs weren’t allowed so we didn’t walk them all the way up to the house only to have to walk back again, and directed us to some shade and offered to keep an eye on them in the car if we still wanted to go up. We declined being that it was likely to get a bit warm and because Boycie is still at that age where he’s likely to eat the car. So we decided to head over to Melbourne to visit the house there instead only to find the same applied except this time there was no nice man trying to offer a solution, although there was a very nice gift shop where I spent way too much money!! :lol: The drive over there wasn’t a complete loss. Part of the grounds are residential and surround a lovely lake which we duly walked the dogs round. We then climbed into the car with the intention of going into Matlock to a factory outlet for some shopping but never actually found it so instead had a lovely drive round the area.

On Thursday we got some shopping in by heading into Rowsley to Peak Village – a factory outlet store, where we didn’t actually spend lots of money (that came later!!!! :lol:) but bought a few bits and bobs and wore the dogs out a little. We then headed to Castleton to visit the caverns where they mine Blue John – that’s where the money got spent. We didn’t actually get to go into the mines because we had the dogs, but we visited the gift shops and bought the guides so we could have a pretend tour of them. I also bought myself a piece of Derbyshire (a celtic cross with a Blue John inset). One thing I will NOT do again in a hurry is climb the cavern at Treak Cliff. My lordy I near killed myself climbing up there and added to the fact I’m not big on heights …… well you can guess how I felt about that!!! We went back into Castleton itself afterwards. There are some lovely gift shops there and on my way round got some pics of the area (mainly of a stream which seems to run the entire length of the village, which I had a quick look round on the way up to the Peak Cavern (otherwise poetically titled “The Devil’s Arse”).

Friday we went to Heanor, where we took Boycie to see the lady we got him from so she could see how he was and get his papers and that (which is a bit of a sore point!!!! :angry:) and then met up with Karen and her youngest to go to Shipley Country Park. It’s a park (obv!! :lol:) with a massive lake in the middle. Ryan fed some ducks, we walked the dogs round the lake, had a bit of a picnic that Karen prepared for us, and just had a general natter (and wound Ryan up!! That was fun!! ;)). Went back to Karen’s for a brew and a bit more of a natter and before we knew it, it was 5:45 and we had to leave. But as always, it was lovely to see you Karen, and to meet Ryan.

So there you have it. I won't bore you with the details of the nice easy trip home after dropping in at Karen's on the way through, because I guess you can guess that I made it back because ...... I said so ...... (OOO) Enjoy the pics!!! (thumbs up)

Fantastic write up mate - sounds like you enjoyed yourself in our part of the world then? (hug) Twas lovely to see you again, and I'm glad you all made it back safely... Now you'll need another week off to recover eh? ;) lol

Kxx

Marvellous write up Hamster, I almost felt I was back there. Those photos are fantastic!!!!!!

We love the peak district but have never stayed there as Clive likes the sea as well, but I am seriously tempted now.

Thanks for that.

(thumbs up)