Kedleston Lakeside Walk

The only really sunny day this week was Monday, so I took the opportunity for a short walk along the Lakeside path at Kedleston - the last one for me to explore there.














There are several man-made lakes at Kedleston, the largest having an island in the middle and a boathouse, though no boats nowadays.

This walk leads from the Hall to the bridge and then upstream, past the largest lake and several smaller ones. It's a short walk - two miles or so - but the weather was sunny and we didn't hurry, taking time out to sit and admire the views.

Eventually at a point where the water is only a stream's width, the path turns, over stepping stones (there's a footbridge too for the not-so-confident), and returns along the opposite side of the lakes.

I've now walked all the 'official' paths at Kedleston but I'll be back frequently through autumn and beyond, as the trees change colour with the season.

Edinburgh Book Festival At Home

 For years Edinburgh has been a stopping off point on our holidays in Scotland - sometimes for an odd day, sometimes for longer - but recently we haven't been able to go and I've missed the buzz of street performance, plays staged in bizarre back-rooms of bars, music in the fabulous National Gallery, and most of all the book festival's take-over of Charlotte Square.

Months ago, when the coronavirus lockdown was a new thing, I was shocked to hear Edinburgh had cancelled its summer festivals. At the time August seemed so far away, and we all hoped the virus would be a thing of the distant past by then. Well, here we are in August, and despite the easing of lockdown restrictions things are far from normal, and I just don't want to think about what all those festival visitors would have done to infection rates.
All is not lost though. Like other festivals, Edinburgh International Book Festival has gone online - see here for full details of authors. You can join in online and chat to the authors and fellow audience members, or pick a more convenient time to watch  - that's what I've been doing, preparing dinner, and beans for the freezer during events!
There are quite a few advantages to these online events - they don't sell out, you aren't limited to the days you can spend in Edinburgh, or discover that your favourite author is appearing the day after you leave, and as everything is free (though donations are welcome, and I'll definitely send one) you can go to as many events as you like.  So I've taken this opportunity to catch authors I might otherwise have missed - I've seen Bernardine Evaristo talking about Girl, Woman, Other, and want to catch Alexander McCall Smith and Arundhati Roy (all of which would probably have sold out) and discovered Jennifer Nansubuga Makumbi, billed as Uganda's First Woman of Fiction (having listened to her reading from her novel, The First Woman, I definitely want to read more). I need to make some effort though as I think events are only on line till Monday 31st.
On the other hands there are definitely things I miss - the buzz of being actually there, the random sighting of a celebrity browsing the bookstore, meeting up with friends as we pass on the way to events, the mad dash across town to see a Fringe show, grabbing pizza from the van on the Royal Mile, and even watching the street entertainers juggling swords and chainsaws while riding a unicycle.
Hopefully next year will be back to normal.

Kedleston, yet again

It's been a wet and windy sort of week, almost more suited to autumn than summer, so I only managed to go walking one day - and to my current favourite place, Kedleston.

Almost every visit there starts with the wildflowers beds. These are definitely reflecting the lateness of the season with many plants now running to seed. The bright yellows of rudbeckias and sunflowers continue though.

Then it was time to head off up and around the Long Walk, circling the inner park where the grass is kept cropped by sheep.

This wooded walk is only maybe fifty yards wide but it feels like walking through a forest.

There were definitely signs of autumn here - leaves piling up, and elderberries ripening.

For once, I had both time and energy to complete the whole walk, and stroll leisurely back by the lakes on the last section.

Wandering round Chatsworth Gardens

 I'm trying to set aside two days each week to go out walking, generally Monday and Friday to nicely bookend the week, but I still want to stay behind the 'paywall' of advance tickets and timed entry slots. Having already visited Kedleston on Monday, we decided to head further out into Derbyshire on Friday and re-visit Chatsworth.

The house and farmyard are now open which I think accounted for the increased number of visitors since the last time I was there, but I was more interested in walking and fresh air, and there's plenty of space for that in the huge garden. While everyone else seemed to head straight for the Cascade and Canal Pond, we walked up the hill to the kitchen garden

A vegetable patch might not be everyone's idea of a beautiful garden, but I love this area. There flowers, presumably to cut for the house, but also attracting in pollinating insects, the views are wonderful, and, in my opinion, even the vegetable beds look attractive. This is how I would like my garden to look.

Leaving this area we were already quite high up the slope on which the garden sits, so we stayed up there, following the path under trees and beside streams. This area definitely feels more like a woodland or forest than a garden!

The path eventually brought us out above the Grotto Pond. If I've walked UP to here, I usually can't be bothered to visit the viewpoint above - coming downhill to it is much easier.

From here we zig-zagged our way downhill by the side of mini waterfalls

to the gardens by the Maze where palms and banana plants are flourishing

Then along to the Strid, with only a tickle running down the rock face in the hot weather.

By now closing time was approaching, and the crowds thinning out rapidly. Just time for a quiet visit to the hidden Ring Pond, before we too had to leave.