Peak District and Moors National Park
I was out of town for few months and busy so couldnt update this thread. I think its time I should add some more places to this thread.
It is very hard for me to find a new place every time. Most of the cities are already covered so we try to find remote country sides to visit. Everyone is already aware of the fascinating english country sides. The old small houses in the villages are beautiful. They have their own pattern and unlike the towns or cities they are mostly empty, which means very few people live there and ofcourse you wont get any Indian restaurant or a McDonals here. You can get a taste of traditional things if you wish to.
After a lot of research I decided to visit Peak District and Moors National Park during Christmas. Peak district is one of the first national park in the UK. The majority of economy is tourism here. Its is mostly a moorland with few peaks which are round in shape. Peak district is very close to Manchester. Moors national park also is a moorland, it has the largest expanses of heather moorland. Moors has cliffs and sea on the right side. We included Moors so that we could get to see some beaches and cliffs too along with the country side.
We get a long weekend this time every year which must not be wasted at any cost. However holidays in Christmas has one major problem - most of the shops/eateries remains closed. If not in a city then most of the pubs and other eateries only allows people who have prebooked.
Without any delay we booked rooms in the nearest towns of Peak district and Moors a week before the Christmas. There was very less staying places in both the places and both being remote areas we didn't take risk. The nearest towns were Sheffield and Peterborough.
Day 1- We started on Christmas morning. Our plan was to visit Peak district first as it was nearer than the other. December is usually very cold in the UK. But this years Christmas was the warmest recorded followed by chilly and windy and almost sub zero temperature for 2 days. Our travel plan was something like this-
I will try and describe each places this time instead of writing what we did on the entire 3 days trip.
DoveDale - This was the first place we visited in Peak District. Our rented car which was a Toyota Avensis had a weird sat nav. The navigation always worked correctly but it used to take us on the road less traveled by motorists. The roads were apparently empty and I doubt someone ever take them once in a while. But they were beautiful and we could just stop anywhere to click photos. Dovedale is a small valley with the river Dove flowing in between. People usually treks to the top of the valley to get a nice view of the river.
We trekked a little bit to see the river from top. But the wind at this time didnt let us to be on the top for long. We could only manage few snaps and then had to come back.
Our travel plan was extensive but due to no availability of food it became a pain. After Dovedale we stopped at Bakewell and looked for food everywhere. Most of the pubs were closed and the opened ones were not allowing us. Hopelessly we took some chips and cold drinks and waited to go to Sheffield. But how can anyone not enjoy the beauty knowing that we might not come here again. So we decided to cover as much as we could with our empty stomachs.
Solomon's Temple - Its an old landmark tower build in 18th century. Most of the tower is broken. What makes it special is the view of the surrounding landscapes from the top. When we reached the temple we could hardly stand. Being on the flat area and with no obstacle around the wind was worse.
Time was running out and we decided to visit one last place which would be on our way to hotel - Chatsworth House. Its a stately home of Derbyshire. It is the seat of Duke of Devonshire and has been home to Cavendish family since 15th century. With a lot of grounds around and river Derwent just flowing in front this house the place was more than beautiful. If someone ever dreamt about owing a large house in the country side I am sure this would be the house to dream about. The palace has its own golf court and river, and not to mention sheeps and ducks roaming around. The backside was a small hill.
In the evening there were no energy left in our body to go anywhere else other than the Hotel. Fortunately the Sheffield Metropolitan Hotel was just in town center and there were lots of restaurant open that time. As soon as we reached we checked in and went for food. We ate like horses.
To be continued..