Mother’s Day has, in the past, been a bit of a bitter-sweet day for me but yesterday was very good indeed. I received this beautiful card from my daughter. She’d written a message inside which made me feel quite overwhelmed with love for her. She also gave me one of my favourite ‘witchy’ scented candles and a jigsaw puzzle of an art work which is right up my street - one of those puzzles that, when it is complete, is worthy of framing for display.
We spent a gloriously warm and sunny day in the Peak District at a stately home which was hosting an arts and crafts fayre. The journey outwards was very scenic - lots of winding roads with hair pin bends that crossed vast swathes of moorland as we travelled higher into the vertiginous Peaks themselves. I have to admit the end of the journey left me feeling somewhat travel sick, what with all the lumpy bumping, twisty turning and looking out of the window and seeing the countryside dropping away steeply to certain death. I have nightmares about stuff like that. Horror!
We passed through many quaint villages that were clearly built for the days of horse and cart, not cars. We also passed a rocky outcrop which reminded me of the scene in the Jennifer Ehle/ Colin Firth series of ‘Pride and Prejudice’ when Elizabeth Bennet is taken on a visit to the Peak District by her Uncle and Aunt Gardiner, and her aunt warns her to be careful as she climbs. (Yes, I have watched it MANY times. It’s one of my comfort DVDs. And I don’t care who knows it.)
And guess what?! Further investigations proved that it WAS indeed the very place where this scene was filmed! I thought I recognised it.
The stately home itself - Thornbridge Hall - is a lovely place to spend a family day out. Beautiful grounds, a garden nursery, a craft emporium for local artists and crafters to sell their goods, and various farm animals wandering around. There’s a good cafe, a playground for children, a lake and a beautiful kitchen garden with huge Victorian greenhouses. Well worth a visit.
The arts and craft fayre was top notch. Sometimes these events are too full of stalls selling food to be of much interest, but this one was very varied. I purchased one of these:
A grow my own fancy mushrooms kit! This will go on my ‘Sixty For Sixty’ list as it’s something I’ve always wanted to do. (And yes, I do realise this is food but it’s not cupcakes, brownies, bread, sausage rolls or scotch eggs which is what you usually find. It’s more interesting and healthier than that.) I also bought a sweet little velvet purse. Not edible.
Now, some of you may be aware that my parents owned and ran a mushroom farm business back in the 1990s. I worked there when my children were small and became very au fait with the whole mushroom growing business. There was a lot of dung involved. And darkness. And climbing wobbly ladders. It was an ‘experience’ - I think that’s the word. Very physical work. The worst bit was when I was detailed to take out the transit van to deliver mushrooms to various wholesalers and fish and chip shops. Its gear stick wasn’t a proper gear stick. It was like a lever thing attached to the steering column. It was horrible - like stirring a recalcitrant Christmas pudding. Quite frankly, I was happier shovelling the horse dung.
Anyway, there was a brief foray into growing gourmet mushrooms which require thermal shocking to get them started. It didn’t go well. Regular mushrooms were easier to grow, but I’ve always thought I’d like to have another go at growing the gourmet varieties. And now I can, because I have a kit, and the enthusiastic chap at the fayre assured me it would be an easy thing to do. We shall see…
Lunch was freshly cooked artisan pizza sitting at a table and chairs in the sunshine behind the Hall. The fayre was also showcasing local singers and choirs, so we had a background of live music to accompany lunch, which was lovely. It was all very good-natured and calming and British. The ghosts of Mothers’ Day past have, at last, been expunged.
This morning, my Barn Owl Trust Welcome Pack arrived. It is an excellent welcome pack, informative and interesting with lots of nice bits and bobs therein.
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