Derbyshire

Walking holiday in Derbyshire (and Staffordshire, really). The White Peaks. Beautiful countryside, quintessentially English, quirky things along the way guaranteed.

The Cat & Fiddle claims to be the second-highest pub in England. We started one of our walks from there.

The water in the reservoir is normally so high it reaches the overfall (roundish building in the back). I guess, it's hosepipe ban time again.

The day off was spent at Chatsworth, home to the Duke and Duchess of Devonshire.

The family loves art. This is the War Horse by Elisabeth Frink:

This computer portrait of Laura Burlington, the future Duchess of Devonshire (if they don't get divorced, that is), is by Michael Craig-Martin. The colours change randomly and there is millions of permutations, so it is unlikely that these combinations will ever show up again:

The Dowager Duchess of Devonshire is the youngest of the Mitford sisters. She celebrates her 90th birthday this year. There is currently an exhibition about her life.

Of course, the estate has beautiful gardens. They even overgrow wooden chairs and tables.

This is the BBC perparing for the filming of the Antique Roadshow the next day.

After the one day off, we were back walking through the countryside.

It seems that all paths lead to Chatsworth. We passed through the grounds, where the deer were resting as far away from the hunting tower as possible.

The white marquees are where the Antiques Roadshow was filmed. There were zillions of visitors there, lots more than the day before.

At the end of the walking holiday I said good-bye to my boots. They weren't comfortable anymore. I guess the sole deteriorated over the years. I have had them for ages. There was no point bringing them back to Germany and bin them here, so they ended their lives on an English dump.