Springtime walks: Croxden Abbey and Shining Cliff Woods

It seems to be taking a long time to get properly warm, this spring. But suddenly there are flowers everywhere and the world has turned green. We had to go and see it all.

Croxden Abbey

800 years ago, there was a community of 70 monks at Croxden Abbey, hidden away in a beautiful nook of Staffordshire. Now there are peaceful ruins, carpeted with soft green grass. It was hard to imagine the space filled with busy worship and work.

Croxden abbey cloisters

the west door of the church

We had parked at the village of Hollington and walked down the hill, playing a game of spot-the-animal. In just a few short fields we had seen sheep, cattle, horses, alpacas, rabbits, a dog, and even a donkey. We decided we only needed pigs to make our farm animal collection complete!

It wasn't a long hike - we probably spent just as long eating snacks and playing hide and seek in the abbey ruins, as we did walking. Our return journey took us past a few horses, but sadly no pigs. We followed an old Roman road (now tarmacked) back to Hollington, where we removed ourselves from history and jumped into our very modern car.

Shining Cliff Woods

It's bluebell season! Usually that means a trip to Calke Abbey, but this time we decided to venture a little further afield. Shining Cliff Woods are just off the A6 between Belper and Cromford. They certainly lived up to their name on a surprisingly warm April day. The sunshine picked out startlingly green leaves, enthusiastic streams, and yes, the gorgeous colour of bluebells in bloom.

We had paused at a direction sign when some people came past and said, "Go that way, it's more interesting". That way took us up to a small reservoir, built to supply power to a wire works in the valley below. It had a No Swimming sign which I suspected many people ignore - it looked a perfect place for a wild dip.

Further on, we passed a hostel and a fire circle tucked under a rocky outcrop. Graham had read about a 2000 year old yew tree at the other end of the wood, so we set out to find it. After a decent hike we found it - a broken stump, with two tiny yew saplings bravely carrying on the family line. Definitely not the enormous gnarled tree we had been expecting!

Theo and I by the stump

Fortunately the path back down the hill turned into a stream, which turned our walk into an exciting hop from rock to rock. The boys forgot their disappointment as they splashed their way down as fast as they could.

We came back through the derelict remains of the wireworks factory, which closed in 1996. This blog is worth a look if you like photos of deserted buildings - they obviously had a good time exploring the wireworks. Most of it is securely bricked up now, to prevent entry. So here's our attempt at a family selfie instead.

Comments

Mr White Watson of Bakewell

Once upon a time, back in 1795 or so, lived a man who was always asking questions. The kind of questions like, "Why is glass transparent?" or "Why do fruit trees grow better in that place than in this place?" or "What does the earth look like underneath the surface?" This last question was one that he was particularly interested in, and he went so far as to work out what the rock layers looked like where he lived, and draw little pictures of them. Now he was a marble sculptor by trade (as well as fossil hunter, mineral seller, and a few other things) so he thought it would be even better to make his little pictures in stone. That way he could represent the layers using the actual rocks they were composed of. Over the course of his lifetime he made almost 100 of these tablets, as he called them. Then he died. And no one else was quite as interested in all those rocks and minerals as he was. His collection was sold off, bit by bit, and the table...

Bradford Cathedral: A marvel in miniature

My family think it's hilarious. I seem to have a gift for finding people who are doing weird and wonderful things. Cycling across all the OS maps in the UK ( Mark Wedgwood ). Going to Rome on a 50cc moped called Rocinante ( Chris Webb) . Walking 3700 miles in Wales to raise awareness of ovarian cancer ( Ursula Martin ) And building a scale model of Bradford Cathedral ( Michael Scott ). Michael Scott's main hobby is constructing an N-scale railway layout of a fictional West Yorkshire town called Chandwell. I forget how I first found his YouTube channel; I think it was shortly before Bradford Cathedral asked if he would turn his talents to producing a model of the building, as part of Bradford's year as City of Culture. He said yes, thinking it would take about nine months. Two years and many fascinating videos later, he finally unveiled the finished artwork at the cathedral. I had to be there. It helped that Graham's sister and brother-in-law live just outside Bradford...

Rotherham Minster

I read another blog post which started, "There comes a time in everyone's life, when one simply must go to Rotherham." And I thought that was such a good first line that I've nicked it. I had not, it is true, previously given much consideration to going to Rotherham. Then I worked out that Sheffield Cathedral and Rotherham Minster were not far apart, and the train ride from Derby was reasonably cheap. Moreover, my cousin Vicky lives in the area and I could pay her a long-overdue visit. Great, I thought, I'll schedule a trip in a few weeks' time. On Friday morning I looked at Rotherham Minster website and discovered that the church isn't usually open on Saturdays, but there was a Community Day the very next day. A bit of hasty texting later, and I had a plan: Rotherham Minster in the morning, Sheffield Cathedral in the afternoon, and Vicky would meet me in Sheffield city centre after that. Rotherham Minster The train to Sheffield was busy but uneventful. A...

Martha's Marvellous Munchies

Search This Blog