Hurray, hurray, it’s a holi-holiday!
Fab, I’m on holiday. I really need it too - I’ve been working so hard that I was about to collapse. Mark’s on holiday too, and because we’re skint and it’s October we decided to make like tourists in the local area.
On Saturday we went to see the Nine Ladies on Stanton Moor in Derbyshire. We parked in a village called Birchover, where the people were very friendly and helpful. We asked a farmer for directions and he jumped out of his van, whipped out an ordinance survey map and proceeded to explain the route we needed to take in detail. You wouldn’t get that in many places these days. It turns out that it’s a very undemanding walk and that pretty much all the paths over the moor take you to the Nice Ladies so we needn’t have worried. The stones are set in a very picturesque woodland clearing surrounded by silver birch trees. It was a lovely sunny afternoon and the circle was surprisingly busy with various groups of visitors, most of whom we also spotted in the pub about an hour later. It’s well worth a visit, but I warn you, the circle was created by hobbits. Few if any of the stones reach more than waist height. It’s quite charming in it’s titchiness though. We would have stayed in the pub in Birchover for a meal but it was too early so we set off for Ashford in the Water - a village we’d passed on the way down and which looked nice. Mark then remembered he’d been there before and visited to a really great pub out on the moor near the village so we went in search of it. It was surprisingly easy to find - it’s called the Monsel Head Hotel, and the food is excellent.