Of Scot's pine and rhodedendron

Once through the fields, we followed the old carriage road around the side of the hill and turned off to weave up through the woods again; this time, surrounded by the tall straight trunks of the Scots Pine, which towered above us as we climbed.

The path was edged with ferns and brambles; a whole carpet of green, in the midst of which were beautiful patches of bright pink and purple rhodedendrons.

Old Furnace

These are the cottages at the hamlet of Old Furnace, referred to yesterday. Further research tells me that the furnace which operated on this site was the first in the north and one of the earliest in England. It was built by Lawrence Loggin from Leicestershire when, after the death of the sixth Earl of Shrewsbury in 1590, the mineral extraction rights were opened up to outside interest by his widow Bess of Hardwick.

 The stone to build the furnace was brought three miles, from Hollington, by mule, down an ancient trackway which still runs below the field next to the cottages.

From where this photograph was taken, the old packhorse trail is in the darkness approximately eight feet below the trees on the left.
 
Today, the cottages at Old Furnace are private dwellings, but the annex (the roof of which is just visible to the extreme right of the first picture) is let as a holiday cottage and has been awarded the Environmental Quality Mark by the Peak District National Park Authority, in recognition of the work done by the owners to aid conservation in the area.

If I didn't live in the area, I would consider it a lovely place for a holiday!

Industrial heritage

Dimmingsdale has not always been the quiet retreat  it is today. Like many of our rural beauty spots, it has an industrial heritage. The earliest were woodcutters, harvesting wood from the forest, corders to chop and shape it to an appropriate size and colliers who built and tended the specially constructed, oxygen-free fires to produce charcoal.

In the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries, a smelting industry grew up, with stone being brought in from what is now the Peak District. The furnace in Dimmingsdale would smelt the rock to extract the lead and iron ore it contained. The locally produced charcoal fed the fires, and water from the streams was used to power the bellows and hammers. The scene would have born little resemblance to how it is today!

Throughout this time, the land had been owned by successive Earls of Shrewbury. In the early nineteenth century, the fifteenth Earl of Shrewbury took up residence. By now the industry had died, leaving the valley to return to its natural state and, seeing the beauty of the area, he built the Towers at Alton.

Although the forest is once again full of natural beauty, as we walked, we could spot evidence of the industrial past; the many criss-crossing trackways, the names of the dwellings at the valley head (Old Furnace Farm, Furnace farm, Old furnace - a bit of a clue there then :) ), the damming of the river and this water channel...

The grooved ramp coming in from the left was the final section of a flat bottomed trough which appeared through a drystone wall. This was just below 'Old Furnace' and was obviously feeding water back into the stream after its power had been harnessed.

I'm finding it interesting to reflect on how, so much of what I take at face value, has been shaped and changed by the past.

Dimmingsdale

Last week was half term and I had the pleasure of going out for a walk in the company of a friend with whom I've not walked before. On her recommendation, we headed for a place called Dimmingsdale, which is just down the road from Alton Towers in Staffordshire. That sounds a bit noisy, but actually, the whole walk was incredibly quiet and peaceful; not to mention beautiful!

Although not a particularly large area, Dimmingsdale forms part of the Churnet Valley which cuts its way through the Staffordshire Moorlands. It is a mixture of broadleaf trees and Scots pine with a variety of other woodland plants and wildlife. We also saw quite a range of water birds on the lakes and, of course, this is the time of year when the rhodedendrons are in bloom, so we were treated to a show of their flowers.

Our walk was not especially long (around four and a half miles), but it was varied and had a few shortish climbs, taking us to good viewpoints. The photo does not show an especially distant view, but it was one of the first and I was very pleased with the balance of the shot.

At this point, we were heading down to the lake shown, before following the valley and then climbing up and out of the woods into the hilltop fields, where the views were more distant and the sun was hot!

More to follow :)

U is for undecided

I need some help. I have a laptop which I use in the classroom and I want to choose a background a little more interesting than the standard windows screen.

I definitely don't want to use a photo of the school or the school logo, because we see those all of the time. I want something a little removed from everyday life in school.

What do you think? This one...

...of Tower Bridge in London ? It's relevant because we did a topic on cities earlier in the year, though they might be thinking that we've moved on from there.

This one...

...of the harbour in Pwllheli, North Wales? Quite a few of the children holiday in Wales; plus it's a busy picture and they would like the seagull on the yellow post!

Or, this one...

...because quite a few children have connections to farms or farming families (and besides, most children like animals)?

I'd appreciate knowing what you think.

If you would like to see more U posts on Alphabe-Thursday, click this link.

That little buzz of excitement

I can understand your slight air of puzzlement! What on earth is there to be excited about here?

Please allow me to explain...

For fifty and a half weeks of the year, this is the bar in the Joe Hallam building on the Newark and Nottinghamshire Agricultural Showground, but for the other week and a half, it becomes the Control Office for the New Wine North and East Summer Conference. During that particular week and a half, I will be spending a significant amount of time behind this bar; working with a team to co-ordinate communication around site. Our task? To ensure that the conference runs as smoothly as possible for the five thousand delegates who arrive with their tents, caravans and (occasonally) camper vans to join as a whole commmunity of people longing to meet with and be blessed by God, whilst having an enormous amount of fun.

And what do I get out of this? A challenge, the satisfaction of a job well done and the privilege of working with the most brilliant bunch of people you could hope to meet.

Seven weeks and counting! Watch this space!!!

Extended family

Just before we arrived back at Stenson Bubble, after our unexpected but highly enjoyable six mile round trip, we came across a family out for a wander. It was quite a significant sized family; both parents and nine children!

The children were adorable, and reasonably sociable...

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Aren't they gorgeous?!

Just in case you aren't convinced, here are a few more photos to help you make up your mind...

...and my personal favourites...