Weekend Away at Peak District Part I

I never got the obsession that some people have about autumn. For me, it is the start of term, the end of sunny days, end of floaty summer dresses, the start of the countdown to winter. The weather is changeable, sometimes it is freezing and sometimes it is too warm. So I was never that big of a fan of autumn. However, I think the Peak District may have changed my mind on this ambiguous season. The scenery was just amazingly beautiful. The red hues and the weaving mountains were just stunning.

We went to Ladybower dam and Derwent dam on the Saturday morning and then enjoyed the rest of the day at Chatsworth House. We drove past Ladybower dam and made a pit stop at the Ladybower lake. It seemed like there would usually be quite a lot of fisherman out there if the weather was better. There was a fishing supply shop just opposite the road.

Ladybower lake. The skies weren't looking too kind on us that morning...

The area around Derwent dam was just so pretty. It was just all trees and grass, so different from the dusty grey London. The dam was impressive but I think it would have been more spectacular if we were in the wet season. To be honest, it is difficult to think that North England has dry seasons, I swear it never stops raining. We even caught a little bit of rain in the morning, although it didn't stop us doing our planned activities.

Cup of tea, check, scarf check, massive coat, check. How to combat British weather. 

Look at the trees! Look at how red it is!

Trying to get a piece of autumn there... 

We visited Chatsworth House next, which was where Pride and Prejudice was filmed apparently. They do weddings there and it made me think how beautiful it would be to have a wedding there. I don't think I will be able to afford it though! The house itself was just so absurdly extravagant. They had a modern furniture design exhibition in the rooms, which was rather incongruent to rest of the deco, but quite interesting visually. The garden surrounding the house went on for acres and acres, it had some interesting sculptures, there was even a garden maze! It was small but quite challenging. Of course I won with my competitive nature and superior navigating skills and spatial awareness. 

Nice reading sofa thing...

EXTRAVAGANCE. 

Do you want that in your room?

Library. Hallelujah. 

Of course there was a Steinway and Sons piano there. The best piano makers. I had a little play, it was looooovely.

What real women looks like. No thigh gap people! Sheesh. 

The coolest chairs ever. Trees were dyed and the colour was let to run free in the contours of the tree itself. Then each piece of wood was cut up and pieced together to create the pattern. Whaaaat?! That would have taken so much time. Amazing.

Fake bronze apples from a tree. That's what you need in every garden. 

The Queen?! Whaaaat?

To be honest, I couldn't really smell anything.

Halloween decorations at the entrance to the coal mine tunnel, creeeeeepy. No not really... 

The House owned by Duke and Duchess of Devonshire.

The place was so big, I'm pretty sure we still didn't see quite a lot of the garden area. We did visit the Farmyard though. They had guinea pigs, horses, pigs, goats, ponies... The list could go on, you get my point. They also had a creepy crawlies room, where you could hold a tarantula (no thank you), a huge Madagascar cockroach (no thank you), and a rat (yes please). Rats are actually incredibly cute, to be clear I am talking about the pet-kind, not the pest-kind, one letter makes all the difference.

Two days old piglets. SO CUTE. Soooooo cute. Yes. Yes. Sooooooo pink and cute. 

Bakewell. Not a bad looking town.

We finished the day with a visit to Bakewell. We had an Indian meal at Urban Spoon, highly recommend by the way if you are ever in that area. It was Southern Indian food, so it was lighter and healthier. It didn't leave me feeling bloated and heavy, which was great because we had traditional bakewell pudding for dinner. Yummy almondy goodness. (Part II)