Renishaw Hall, Derbyshire: (1)

Yesterday I went to Renishaw Hall, Derbyshire, the home of the Sitwells for nearly 400 years. It has become well-known in recent times through the writings of Edith, Osbert and Sacheverell Sitwell. It is still the family home and some of the rooms are open for tours on a Friday afternoon. Although I have visited the gardens before, I wanted to see the house and take a walk in the grounds during the short season when the bluebells are in bloom.

The bluebells in the woodland areas have just come into flower and were a delight to see as was the rest of the gardens, both the informal and formal.

In the woodlands the camellias are in bloom as well as some magnolias.

A carpet of daffodils in the lime tree avenue was a cheerful sight on a rather cloudy day.

The tulips, forget-me-knots and other spring flowers are out in the formal gardens.

On the top lawn there were some playful rabbits (or hares).

At the moment, if you are in the UK you can see Renishaw Hall featured on a programme called Country House Sunday early on a Sunday morning on the itv channel or catch up on the series on iplayer replays.

Haddon Hall, Derbyshire: the gardens

Maytime:  one of my favourite months in a lovely season for enjoying the garden.

Now that the weather has slightly improved I'm hoping to make some return visits to the nearby houses and gardens that I love best.  On the top of my list are Renishaw and Haddon Hall. It's always a pleasure to visit at different seasons to see the plants in flower, appreciate the designer's vision and the work of the gardeners who maintain the grounds.

In the sixteenth century the owners of Haddon Hall, John Manners and Dorothy Vernon, built the Long Gallery and they also laid the garden below the windows. Viewed from the windows, the garden would have featured an elaborate Elizabethan knot garden with gravel paths in between. Traditionally, this would have been planted with low growing herbs such as evergreen hyssop or germander which could be clipped into low hedges to form interweaving patterns.  There would have been fragrant plants such as lemon balm, thyme and lavender that could be used for medicinal purposes.  (Notes taken from 'Haddon Hall' written by Bryan Cleary).

Interestingly, this photograph was taken of a corner of one of the top terraces about three years ago

in Springtime and before the new planting scheme was laid out to reflect the garden's

Elizabethan origins as well as preserve the restoration work carried out in the 1930s by the present owner's grandmother, the Duchess of Rutland.

This is the same area taken in June last year.

It was a drizzly day - the red in the corner is an umbrella being held over me by a friend - we were in an out of the house in between the showers! There's so much of interest that one can return 

many times and always enjoy the day in the house and grounds.  

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City Centre: Chapel Walk

Recently a good friend, who lives in Cheshire, came to visit by train. We had lunch in a family-run cafe/tea room in Chapel Walk, which is a walkway just off one of the main streets in the city centre. There are some interesting small businesses that are 'getting up and running' as part of a reinvigorating project to utilise empty properties after a period of decline, although this alley was always busy with access to the chapel and there were many little shops such as a hatter's, a tailor's, a shoemaker's and, later on, a 'suffrage shop' for the Sheffield Women's Social and Political Union. Mrs. Pankhurst sent her daughter, Adela, to encourage the women and they had meetings there.

The painted metal name-plate in the form of an arch with a three-dimensional crown shape with leaf motif was designed by Andrew Bell (1996) as well as oval name-plates and brackets for each shop.