Tea at the Darcy's

I am back in London. Town sans backpacks and wellies. So far my brain goes “Why?” I miss all the sheep and the little cows living next door and Mr Darcy’s estate. I stayed at a farm and every morning I was greeted by a bunch of adolescent cows staring at me. Real cows mind you, not little blue plastic ones.

The Peak District is fantastic, mainly due to the absence of the general public and its replacement with countless sheep. That works oh so well for me. And the buzzing (as if!) city life fades quickly. We had the wire thingy but the mp3 player ran out of battery and the sun was shining all week long so no need for wellies either! So what?

On the first day we went to the Chatsworth estate for cream tea with Mr Darcy. Me and my mother often lock horns on the question of who is the one and only true Darcy? She thinks it’s Colin Firth. It is obviously Mathew Macfadyen. My sisters are taking my mother’s side in this. So are my aunts. I am tempted to hide my brand new Little Dorrit boxset from them as a form of punishment. I tried using it as a tool of persuasion but all they had to say was “oh he gained weight since Pride & Prejudice hasn’t he?” Sadly I am rubbish at girly arguments so I have retreated from this dispute after my last contribution was “well but he isn’t married to Keeley Hawes is he! And she is so cool!” I really have to work on my debating skills, maybe I should take some classes in that.

How did I get here?

Yes Chatsworth. We weren’t allowed in the farm bit because it had gotten later than we thought. I was disappointed, I wanted to see the farm! Then I remembered that I am staying on one so I just went home and said hello to the cows who were joined by a grumpy pony.

Next Castleton. Now it might sound exciting to sit in a boat and be shipped through an underground tunnel but sadly it really is not. It just isn’t. Nothing to ad. But the “Remember the guide on your way out, thank you” was a very nice little send off to our next stop which was Hadfield. There we took endless amounts of pictures with the war memorial and the man in a shop asked us if we’d agree that we might be 10 years too late wandering through the streets of Royston Vasey. He was right but we were happy. Unfortunately we couldn’t find Bernice’s churches. Apart from that I was in League of Gentlemen - nerd heaven to be perfectly honest with you.

The next day we went to Crich and Matlock where trams and cable cars were closed so off to the Snake Trail it was and that was heart rendering! So beautiful!

Now I have returned and what have I brought back from my holiday? Have a guess! Yes indeed twelve new pens. One of which says “Pauline’s Pen” and another that looks like Shakespeare.