Housesitting in Derbyshire

Ruby dog and Stimpy cat. For two animals that ignore one another they are fairly close

Time is flying by, though with not much more than dog walking to talk about. We are really enjoying chilling, reading, crosswords, cooking, jigsaw, just very relaxing. Saturday Brian wanted to do the park run at Markeaton Park. Did I want to go and take Ruby! Not particularly, but when he got up Ruby got excited so I thought we might as well go. The park was very nice as we drifted about. I saw B in the distance at one point so we ran to wave which she quite liked. When we found ourselves near the finish line however that was it. I told her B wouldn’t be passing for at least 5 minutes but she wouldn’t budge! My reward for an early start, a bacon and egg cob at The Potting Shed cafe. And I didn’t even run! In the afternoon we headed off towards Egginton to the village fete. Another few km for mad dog, and a cream tea for us. There wasn’t much else there! Here's a short video of our walk: click here

Swans and cygnets at Markeaton Park. No photos of Brian running in the ParkRun, Jackie didn't take any!

Monday I got a craving for Thai food (I don’t know, two of my favourite dishes were mentioned in the book I was reading....) so after dog walking we headed into a Derby to the Thai Boran Street food restaurant £12 for a two course lunch menu can’t be bad! Dinner was just the second portion of the rhubarb crumble we’d made.

Waiting for our starters to arrive in the very nice Thai Boran Street Food restaurant

Yesterday we took Ruby to Calke Abbey. She never really wants to get in the car, though once in she’s as good as gold. Perhaps she remembers the last time we took her in the car, 4 years ago when the Vectra blew up in Ashbourne! She’s more than happy with her walk in the woods, but we wanted to go. It was a good walk, though the expected pub lunch never material. Apparently pubs and Tuesday lunchtimes don’t mix round there! Here's a short video of our walk: click here

Walking over the level crossing at Hilton. Class 37 diesel locos use this line don't you know!

Cream tea with Ruby dog at Egginton Village Hall Fete. There wasn't much going on but, on the other hand, Egginton is a tiny village. It gave Ruby a nice walk over the fields

It seemed to wear her out and gave us a bit of peace

This was on our walk by the River Dove by Marston On Dove. It is a marked public footpath, but this part was not regularly used! Here's a short video of this walk: click here

The track led to some nice beach areas by the river...

Which was too much of a temptation for Ruby dog

We passed the old stone bridge supports on an old railway across the river. According to Tim the line was the Jinnie line that used to run from Burton to Tutbury

Another day and another walk. This is the summer only cafe at Calke Explore, which is a great place for families to visit. A large car park, toilets, a cafe with out door seating area and woods with lots of things for kids (and adults) to explore. Ruby wasn't keen on stopping this early into her walk so we just bought some ice creams that we could eat on the go

First stop in the woods at Calke Explore was this hobbit hole

Of course we all had to walk through it, crouched down

Past Calke House, we didn't go in as we had the dog, but it does sound worthy of a visit. Apparently generations of the Harpur Crewe family lived there as virtual recluses, letting the outside world pass them by. They spent their time collecting things while the house gradually deteriorated and its filled with cases of antiques, silver, stuffed birds and minerals. It has become known as the house that time forgot as it has remained largely unaltered since 1880. The National Trust now own it and only made essential repairs to preserve it as it was

Ruby inspecting the Mere Pond. No, you can't go in! She's on her lead just in case!

Past the nearby old lime kilns. The lime quarries are now a wildlife reserve

One of the lime pits now filled with crystal clear water providing a perfect reflection in the still water

Approaching the tramway tunnel

It was quite a long (and dark) tunnel

We wanted to get her silhouetted against the light at the end of the tunnel, but trying to get her to stop for long enough was too much to ask, so we settled for this

Arriving back at our start at the church in Ticknall after an unsuccessful search for a local pub that was open on a Tuesday and serving lunch. The closest we got was one that could offer a scotch egg and a bag of crisps! We went home for lunch in the end 

Stimpy cat being hand fed her favourite slice of ham. Cat food? Pah! This cat wants ham! Ruby is there to to clear up any pieces that she drops

This has become a regular position for Stimpy in the evening whilst watching TV. Strokes are demanded in quantity and it doesn't matter to her if she stands blocking the view of the TV, she is more important!

She can look incredibly grumpy when she wants to

A bit of dead railway track on our usual local walk through the woods. Its been dead for a while as those trees growing in the middle of the track are quite big. Reminds us a bit of the Death Railway at Hellfire Pass in Thailand (near the bridge on the River Kwai), built during the Japanese occupation of that country in WWII by British and Australian prisoners of war, that we visited some 10 years ago

Finally, this video was taken during some Cross family videos that we were transferring onto Youtube. This bit features Brian's old dog Sophie being wound up by Fiona and Stuart  about 40 years ago. Our dog was howling in the video and this set Ruby dog off howling too. It was really quite funny:

 If you'd like to watch the Cross and Williams family video, starting with Brian's daughter, Fiona joining Brownies at 5 in 1984, through to the building of a giant snowman around 1989 you can watch it on Youtube by clicking this link: https://youtu.be/5MvxyDCZ8eo