WALKING GROUP
Ten people – yes TEN! Arrived for our walk on New Year’s Day, led by Trish Law, from Calton Lees towards Edensor. Mary hadn’t walked with us for a while but brought her friend, Heather, who was visiting from Bingley.
There had been heavy rain all morning but it had almost stopped as we set off along a surfaced track, which led us up a long winding way to Calton House and a row of new, stone-clad holiday cottages. Further on we passed Russian Cottage over on our right and at a bend were rewarded by a panoramic view of Derbyshire with Chatsworth House below us and Edensor Church rising above the tree line. The grassland was dotted with sheep and a small herd of fallow deer were grazing amongst them.
One part of the House is again covered in tarpaulin for the final phase of the Masterplan. This work began in 2005 and is expected to cost £32.7 million, made possible by visitor admission revenue and the Friends of Chatsworth programme through the Chatsworth House Trust. This work is scheduled to be completed in November 2017 when the stone will have been cleaned, repointed and repaired. Rotten stone will have been removed and replaced with new from the Burntwood Quarry. By the end of the year every roof will have had work done including replacing lead coverings, installing hundreds of roof vents and thermal insulation, joinery repairs and rebuilding chimney stacks. (information taken from the internet)
We walked towards the river Derwent where a dipper was spotted and later on we had a sighting of numerous jackdaws.
It was good to get out and breathe the fresh air, see the beauty of our delightful county and exercise our legs.
Bob Cable will lead the next walk on Sunday 5th February from Birchover towards Stanton in the Peak. This is a 4 ½ mile walk, all are invited to come along and swell our ranks. We meet at 12 noon at the church gates with a packed lunch. Transport is arranged to the starting point. Steve and Julie Franks will arrange the following month’s walk.