Weekend Away

We had a lovely weekend away in Derbyshire this weekend. We left on Friday afternoon, spent a while on the M1 and then turned up near Burton on Trent by late afternoon. The “cottage” was lovely, it was nice and big, the only let-down was that the dining room was smaller than would be ideal. Leon and I had a nice room, a double on the ground floor which was en-suite. There was a log-burner in the lounge too.

We did some walking on the first day (Saturday), which didn’t involve any evil waterfalls, and only one scary bit. There were also alpaca, although they were a long way away. The weather mostly held, only mild drizzle at one point. We had an excellent pub lunch too.
On the second day (Sunday), Leon and I went to Chatsworth House with one of the other weekenders. We looked around the gardens, which were fab even at this time of year. We also looked around the house which is already decked out for Christmas. They also had some lion-mane bunnies which were so sweet. We also saw some pretty ruffle-back doves and other birds which I forget the name of. They also have the “Mr Darcy” bust from the movie of pride and prejudice. (The movie, not the BBC adaptation. Personally I prefer Colin Firth’s Darcy, though the film version was good.)
Since we’d taken the Monday off work Leon and I travelled up to another stately home, Hardwick Hall. Sadly, it’s owned by the National Trust and so was shut. Bother. We should have called ahead. So, we detoured, towards Sutton Scarsdale Hall – a ruin. It turns out that one of the signs was pointing the wrong way and we got horribly lost. So we headed off. We stopped at a garden centre somewhere with a farm shop. No animals though, but some nice food.

I went to the chiropractor again to get my report. She recommended several visits over the next few weeks which would have been quite costly. I took the report to my pilates teacher for a second opinion. She said it wasn’t that bad really. I decided not to continue going to the chiropractor on the grounds that I can’t really afford it, and if I hadn’t gone in the first place I wouldn’t have known that I'm a bit off kilter. Equally, I’m not suffering from backache recently and most of what she recommended was lifestyle (drink more water, eat 5-a-day, sit up straight and don’t cross your legs) as well as the horribleness that is being adjusted (it’s not pleasant. I’ve been putting a brave face on, but I really don’t like being clicked!) So, no more of that.

I’ve also ordered some more sock yarn from a UK based hand-dying company. I’ll let you know what it’s like when it arrives. I’m thinking about using it to make some jaywalkers if it’s striped or broadly variegated, if it’s not then I might try some other sock pattern. Nothing too complex, I want a nice simple knit. I have to decide whether to risk trying to make some socks with the 50g of Opal I have left too.
And, I didn’t find any yarn stores this weekend.