Hardwick

We had a lovely day out at Hardwick in Derbyshire at the beginning of April, I thought I'd take you along with us.

Hardwick Hall in Derbyshire is an Elizabethan country house which was built between 1590 and 1597 for Elizabeth Talbot, Countess of Shrewsbury, known more commonly as Bess of Hardwick. Bess was an interesting woman from the Elizabethan age. She had a series of well-made marriages, rose through the ranks of society and, being a shrewd businesswoman, became extremely wealthy. The most famous of her building projects is Chatsworth, the seat of the Dukes of Devonshire who descend from the children of her second marriage. Her last husband was George Talbot, 6th Earl of Shrewsbury who was entrusted with the custody of Mary, Queen of Scots, for nearly fifteen years. At periods during this time, Bess of Hardwick and Mary worked together on the Oxburgh Hangings, needlework bed hangings which are now housed in Oxburgh Hall in Norfolk.

Bess was born around 1521 on the site of the old Hardwick Hall, shown above, to a family of Derbyshire landowners. Little is known about her early life but by her mid teens she was at court in London as a Lady in Waiting to a member of her extended family. From here she married well, accumulated her wealth, and after the deaths of four husbands, Bess commissioned the building of Hardwick Hall.

It was a beautiful day when we visited, sunshine and blue sky, but there was a chill in the wind.

We visited Hardwick at around the same time last year when we had Archie with us. Dogs weren't allowed in the gardens at that time so we were surprised to see that's since changed, dogs are now allowed everywhere except inside the Hall.

The gardens, although a little bare when we visited, are planted with herbs as well as flowers and I'm guessing vegetables as there were rhubarb plants in one bed. In fact, Hardwick has one of the finest herb gardens in the country, over 150 varieties of common and more unusual herbs are grown here.

There's also an ornamental orchard as well as a fruit orchard.

Plants are grown which produce natural dye and I believe there are occasionally demonstrations of historical dyeing techniques given by the staff and volunteers here.

One of my favourite spring plants, the primrose.

I love this area beneath the tree which has been left to run a little wild. The daffodils which had been blooming had faded and the snakeshead fritillaries were now doing their thing.

There's a long yew avenue to the side of the house. At the crossroads of this avenue are four lead statues nestled in niches cut into the yew hedges.

Here we are at the gate to the rear garden, let's go and take a look inside.

The rear view of the Hall. I wouldn't like to clean all those windows. Glass was a luxury material in the 1590s when the Hall was built.

There are several yews in the rear garden which have been topiaried into mushroom shapes.

The borders were nicely filled with spring plants and bulbs.

What a fantastic view looking out from the rear of the Hall.

Bess herself looking out upon that view.

I'll leave this post here, I think that's enough for one day, but come back next time and I'll show you inside the Hall.

April 2025

The weather was beautiful at the start of the month and it hasn't been too bad at all throughout April. We've managed to get lots of jobs in the garden crossed off our list and spent plenty of time outdoors.

We've had some fabulous days out this month: National Trust properties Hardwick Hall, Nunnington Hall and Clumber Park; Halifax Piece Hall; The Deep in Hull; and on Easter Sunday we had a lovely day in Haworth. We visited the Bronte Parsonage Museum which was very interesting. There was an artisan market on in the park and all the independent shops on Main Street were open to look round. Later in the day there was a reenactment of the day the Brontes, Yorkshire's famous literary family, moved from Thornton to Haworth, which was exactly two hundred and five years ago to the day. The people involved were in period costume and it was a lovely way to round off our visit.

Granny's little Easter chick. Jack's ten months now and into everything. He's such a happy boy, we love him to bits. He had an eventful time on Saturday being rushed to A&E after his first taste of peanut butter, his lips swelled up and he developed a rash around his mouth. It seems he has a nut allergy and so he's waiting for a referral to the allergy clinic.

I've read five books this month.

We All Live Here is the latest book by Jojo Moyes. I'm a big fan, you never know what her latest offering will bring but I know I'll always enjoy it. This book did hold my interest and draw me in but I don't think it's one of her best. It's probably just me, I've enjoyed some of her other books more.

I only recently learned that Elaine Everest died last year. I've read every one of her books and I've thoroughly enjoyed the Woolworths Girls series, they're nice easy reads and good, original stories. A Christmas Wish at Woolworths is the latest in the series and I enjoyed it just as much as the earlier books. It's good to catch up with characters you've got to know well. I believe there's another book due out this year which was written before her death. It's sad that the series is coming to a close.

Dying Fall by Elly Griffiths is the fifth book in the Dr Ruth Galloway series. The story, this time, is set in Lancashire, which is away from the usual setting of Norfolk. Nelson just happens to be taking a holiday around his old stomping ground in Blackpool so his path seemed destined to cross once more with Ruth's. Such good plots, I read these books so quickly, I could get through the whole series in no time at all, but I'm rationing myself, I don't want to finish them too soon.

I put The List of Suspicious Things by Jennie Godfrey on my wish list just as soon as I'd read the first review. Having grown up myself in West Yorkshire during the period of the Yorkshire Ripper, I can relate to the fear and uncertainty of the time. I must have been around the same age as Miv, the protagonist, or perhaps a year or two younger. Although the story follows the timeline of the Ripper and his victims, the book is really about friendship and a community pulling together. I loved the characters in this book, I loved the story, I felt is was really well written and kept me wanting to turn the pages. Definitely my favourite book this year, so far!

Now I know I've just said that I'm rationing the Elly Griffiths books but no, I couldn't stop myself from reading a second one this month. The Outcast Dead has two storylines running parallel, the first from back in Victorian times and one current and up to date, however, they both have something in common, the deaths of children. Another great read, in fact I think this one was my favourite of the Dr Ruth Galloway series so far.

I've finished another little cardigan for Jack. It's my favourite Baby Aosta Cardigan pattern by The Knit Purl Girl and this is the seventh one I've now knit for different babies. Eleanor wanted a replica of the very first one I knitted for Jack in Sirdar Snuggly in the Twinkle Toes colourway ready to wear over the summer months. He'll be a year old in June so I started the 12M size but it knitted up very small, I've found Sirdar Snuggly to be a lighter DK weight so this will be why. I pulled it back and rather than going for the 18M, I've knit the 24M. If it's too big for him at a year old, he'll grow into it at some point.

Exactly a month to the day since Archie died, we went back to Lotherton. Although it's somewhere we've visited so regularly, we just couldn't face it before. It was Archie's place. A few tears were shed. It's so difficult wherever we go without Archie, he was always with us, but he loved Lotherton so much. It's a good few years now since he's been able to manage the Boundary Walk, it was a little too far for him in his later life, but it was a walk we used to do on a Sunday morning when he was young. We did that walk again, as well as taking a walk through the woodland which he always loved. Our grieving continues.

There are two bank holidays in May but we haven't got anything planned as yet. Mick's cricket season has started again so days out on a Saturday are a thing of the past until September's here but we'll still be looking to get out on our little jaunts whenever we can. The weather forecast looks very good for the start of the month, let's hope it continues.

National Trust

As well as joining the RSPB last year, we also joined the National Trust. We've visited National Trust properties in the past but didn't think a membership would benefit us as many of the properties they look after weren't very dog friendly. In recent years the National Trust seem to have become more inclusive and they now allow dogs in many of the gardens and parkland so we decided to take out an annual membership.

A joint membership cost us £151.20, though you can pay monthly by direct debit if you wish rather than in one lump sum. Again, as I did with our RSPB membership, I kept a note of all the National Trust properties we visited over the year to see what we would have paid had we not taken out a membership, and it was the same as with the RSPB, we'd broke even within four months.

Calke Abbey. We didn't go inside the house so we would have paid £7.50 each for entry to the parkland and gardens had we not been members. Admission to the house costs £12.50 for non-members and is in addition to the Parkland and Gardens. £15 saved.

Fountains Abbey. Admission is £19 for non members. We visited three times £114 saved.

We also visited Fountains by Floodlight, an after dark event which was free for members but £10 per ticket otherwise. £20 saved.

Studley Royal Water Garden. Set within the same site as Fountains Abbey, one admission fee allows entry to both, however, we visited each at different times. Non-members pay £19 and there's free parking near the visitors centre, however, the car park adjacent to Studley Royal which we used is pay & display, free for National Trust members, or £6 for 4 hours or £9 all day for non-members. We visited twice. £88 saved.

Beningbrough Hall. Admission is £14 for non-members. We visited four times. £112 saved.

Hardwick Hall. Admission is £19 for non-members. £38 saved.

Nostell. Dogs aren't allowed in the house or gardens so we only visited the parkland. Parking costs £5 for non-members, house or gardens £8 or a combined ticket for the house and gardens £12. We visited twice. £10 saved.

Ilam Park. Non-member parking, up to 4 hours costs £5, all day costs £7. £5 saved.

Clumber Park. Admission is £5 for non-members. £10 saved.

Nunnington Hall. Admission is £11 for non-members. We visited twice. £44 saved.

Belton Estate. Admission is £15 on Tuesday or Wednesday or £18 Thursday to Monday for non-members. £30 saved.

Wentworth Castle Gardens. Admission is £6 for non-members. We visited twice. £24 saved.

Ormesby Hall. Admission is £6.50 for non-members. £13 saved.

Lyme. We didn't go inside the house so we would have paid £7 each for entry to the Park and Gardens had we not been members. Admission to the House, Park and Gardens costs £15 for non-members. £14 saved.

Quarry Bank. Admission is £22 for non-members. £44 saved.

Brimham Rocks. Non-member parking, up to four hours costs £6.50, all day costs £10. We visited twice. £13 saved.

East Riddlesden Hall. Admission is £6.50 for non-members. £13 saved.

Hardcastle Crags. Non-member parking, up to 4 hours costs £5, all day costs £8. £5 saved.

Dunham Massey. We didn't go inside the house so we would have paid £9 each for entry to the park and gardens had we not been members. Admission to the house costs £17 for non-members and is in addition to the park and gardens. £18 saved.

So in total we would have spent £630 on admission to these places. That's a huge £478.80 more than what we paid for our membership. In fairness, I should point out that we visited some of the places purely because we were passing on the way to somewhere else, we wouldn't have popped in for so short a time if we'd had the admission price to pay, but as we had our membership that didn't matter.

Our membership also included the National Trust Handbook which details the places cared for by the National Trust and opening times. They sent us one at the start of our membership and another at the beginning of this year. In addition to this, members also receive the National Trust Magazine three times throughout the course of the year.

The prices quoted in the post were correct at the times we visited. Some, if not all, of the properties have now increased their prices, and the price of joint membership has also now increased to £160.60.

For us, the membership has been well worth it. We've renewed our membership for another year and have already visited Hill Top, Beatrix Potter's farmhouse retreat in the Lake District as well as other places.

Do you have National Trust membership? What are your experiences with it?

RSPB

Last March we decided to join the RSPB (The Royal Society for the Protection of Birds). We've visited our local reserve for years but with 170 places to visit all around the country, we thought it would provide us with ideas for some new places for days out.

A joint membership costs £60 per year, though you can opt to pay more if you want to as a larger donation enables the organisation to put more money towards saving wildlife. I decided to keep a note of all the places we visited over the year to work out how much we would have paid had we not taken out a membership, and discovered that we'd broke even within four months.

Sherwood Forest. There's no admission fee here but there's a £5 charge for the car park. It's free for RSPB members. £5 saved.

Bempton Cliffs. The admission fee here is £8 for non-members and a reduced price of £4 from November to February. We visited three times over the course of the year. £48 saved.

St.Aidan's. Theres's no admission fee but the parking charge is £4 all day. It's free for RSPB members. We've visited seven times over the course of the year. £28 saved.

Fairburn Ings. There's no admission fee but the parking charge is £4 all day. It's free for RSPB members. £4 saved.

We didn't visit as many reserves as we thought we might, mainly because dogs aren't allowed in the places we were interested in. It's also worth mentioning that we visited Bempton Cliffs a couple of times on an evening in addition to the times mentioned here, however, you're able to just walk out onto the cliffs when the visitor centre is closed so visitors don't have to pay. There is actually a public footpath around Bempton Cliffs so, in theory, you're able to visit free of charge at all times but we haven't tested this. We do always get challenged for our membership cards when the visitor centre is open.

Our membership also included the RSPB Handbook which details the RSPB reserves and what they offer. In addition to this members also receive the RSPB Handbook of British Birds and the RSPB magazine four times throughout the course of the year.

St.Aidan's is only four miles, and Fairburn Ings just seven miles, from our house and they were nice places to walk Archie, though he did have to be kept on his lead so we more often than not took him elsewhere instead. If we weren't going to visit reserves with a higher admission fee, such as Bempton Cliffs, the membership wouldn't have been worth it for us. We would have visited more reserves than we did if we hadn't had Archie.

We saved just £25 over the course of the year, mainly because many reserves aren't dog friendly so we were limited where we could go, though I have to say that the extras, such as the magazines and book, are very good. We haven't renewed our membership yet for this year but we've decided that we're definitely going to do so.

Do you have RSPB membership? What are your experiences with it?

Baby Layette

I've been baby knitting again, this time for Eleanor's sister-in-law who gave birth to a little boy last month. They've called him George.

I thought it would be nice to put a few things together for little George.

I knit the Twinkle Twinkle Baby Blanket by Helen Stewart back in 2021. There weren't any babies to knit for at that time but when Jack came along, Eleanor used it for him. This time I knew I was knitting for a boy so I chose the Dew colourway in the Drops Baby Merino range. It's a delicate baby blue and the yarn knits up beautifully, it's so soft, perfect for a baby.

This time I made the blanket a little bigger by knitting extra repeats of the pattern. It should make it last longer as George grows.

My go to baby cardigan pattern is the Baby Aosta Cardigan by The Knit Purl Girl, I've made quite a few of these in different sizes with different yarn for different babies and they always come out lovely. This time I've used King Cole Cherished DK in the Turquoise colourway. It's actually got more of a greeny hue to it than you can see here.

I bought a set of three cute sleepsuits to add to the gift which match the blanket perfectly, I think it made a lovely little welcome gift and Jacob's sister seemed pleased with it all.