Chatsworth House, Hiking and Toby Carvery

Arise and shine! 

I love this picture of the farm entrance. 

It is somehow Tim Burton-esque with the stickly branches and curvy fonts.

Looking out onto the stunning plains.

We had to make a stop at Tindalls again to grab some pork pies and pasties. The weather was perfect for rainbow-sightings. We spotted a rainbow on the way out of town. We drove towards Chatsworth House and started seeing sheep.

When we arrived at the small town opposite the house, we were greeted by a giant rainbow.

The end of the rainbow extended right down into the roofs and trees. It was a marvellous sight to behold.

It was pretty chilly once we got out.

We crossed the road and started our walk to Chatsworth House through the beautiful park.

It really helped that we brought along wellies. Sloshing in mud is one of my pet peeves. It was my first time wearing wellies and they made me feel invincible. 

We could see Chatsworth House from afar. It looked amazing. I remember the scene in Pride and Prejudice filmed on that right stairwell when Elizabeth saw Mr Darcy and his sister.

Spotted another rainbow.

We walked past the House and upwards to Stand Wood. We walked up towards the Dell and straight on till we saw the Aqueduct which were magnificent arches with a waterfall flowing down from it. 

Into the woods, into the woods....

We came to the Hunting Tower built in the 1570s. It is privately owned now. The view from here was amazing. You could see the entire park below. We spotted yet another rainbow. We had a short lunch picnic and headed back as the sky suddenly darkened.

Needless to say, the perfect way to end the final day in Peak District has to be a dinner at Toby Carvery. We drove through unlit country roads to get there which was quite nerve-racking for me. It was the first time the whole family was dining there.

The best dairy ice-cream ever! 

After dinner we attempted to stargaze. It is pretty difficult to stargaze when you are not lying down horizontally on the ground. 

The next morning, after an obligatory family shot at the entrance to the farm, we set off on our trip back to London. We were greeted by the prettiest pink and purple sunset on our way home.

Thank you to the owners of Shippon Cottage, Foolow, Eyam, Valley of Hope, Derbyshire for such a lovely pre-Christmas getaway!

Monsal Head and Matlock

Arise and (no shine). 

Given the seclusion of the farm, my brothers-in-law managed to take the car for a spin to train their manual skills.

We drove to Monsal Head which greeted us with ferocious gusts of wind. It was sad that the parking area albeit completely empty was a tad overpriced so we didn't think it worthwhile to stay, not even to sample the semi-circle of benches facing the view. My brother-in-law took a tumble as well due to the slippery grass.

We headed on to Matlock.

 The town was still very quiet as it was in the dead of winter. 

We did our daily stop at a pub for a toilet/local ale break. 

I simply love how they converted an old Singer sewing machine into a table! How creative!

More family portraits a.k.a. album covers. This hilarious sign is one of the most creative advertising I've seen yet.

We walked up a back road and came across a house with a pretty blue door which had the sign 'House' on it, in case you mistaken it for a toilet or a bedroom. :)

Also, if you squint really hard, you will see my mother-in-law in the bottom right waving at us. She was the trailblazer up the road.

The boys decided to participate in a progression of oddity which any reader of my blog would know to be a very fond tradition of my husband when on a trip.

We then had a late lunch at The Promenade Fish and Chips shop which was run by a Greek man with whom we had some laughs.

We visited some pretty novelty shops and being us, we can never walk past an Oxfam without going in. We found some gems: a photo of an old map for the husband's office, Ten of a Kind game (a now well-despised game by the rest of the Liews) and a copy of Charles Dickens' Christmas Books which I later discovered, through an intricate label in the front pages, once belonged to Edmund Henry Wilkie , a lantern lecturer among others! (How interesting!)

Headed back to the cottage and we couldn't resist using the adorable egg cups so we boiled some eggs for the protein-hungry boys. Dinner consisted of the second roast chicken made the day before and some stir-fried vegetables. I also made a kale smoothie using ingredients from home. My mother-in-law found a pie dish and suggested we make a cake. We had some walnuts and coffee so I decided to make a coffee walnut cake for dessert. Finding new ways to use the well-equipped kitchen was a great pleasure indeed!

Shippon Cottage, Foolow

Christmas season would not be complete without a trip to a countryside cottage with a fireplace. We bundled up in two cars and drove to Peak District.

Shippon Cottage blew us away. Upon entering the cottage, we instantly felt the warmth and coziness that we have been dreaming of. The rooms were beautiful and had skylights. There were giant and rugged wooden beams going across the room.

The living room had a beautifully lit Christmas tree.

There was a table which could sit eight people so it was perfect for us. 

For dinner, we had some of the yummy bakchang (96 left at this point) made by my in-laws, vegetables from home and some chicken and chips served on the wide assortment of dishes provided in the cottage.

The cottage was so well-equipped. It had practically everything. Placemats, champagne flutes and more. We found a juicer and I had brought along oranges from home. I juiced the oranges to go along with dinner.

The next day, we were greeted by this haunting view early in the morning.


We headed to Tideswell. We picked up some supplies from Co-op.

We visited the church across the road and the best pasties from Tindalls Bakery.

We were desperate for a toilet break. As there were no public toilets around, my husband and his youngest brother decided to pop into the Bull's Head to try their local ales while the rest of us slipped into the loo. Along the ceiling beams, old currencies were displayed. We spotted a Malaysian note which made for a great conversational topic with the bartender.

We visited Ashford-in-the-Water and stopped for tea in the Aisseford Tea Room.

After that, we walked to the river and explored the area.

For dinner, we roasted some jacket potatoes and a chicken accompanied with Foo Yong Dan. The fireplace was lit and we had a good bible study on Hebrews.