After having an extremely long, busy, and stressful weekend at work I didn't want to do a great deal today, but also didn't fancy just hanging around the house all day. So, we had a quick think about where to go just for a couple of hours so we could then go to the Lounge Lizard Cafe for lunch.
Now I've travelled down the M1 on many occasions and always promised myself that we'd visit the large buildings that you see in the distance between Sheffield and Chesterfield. When I say 'large buildings' obviously I'm not talking about the distribution centre next to the M1 at junction 29a, or the blocks of flats that you can just make out in Sheffield city centre; that would be silly. The two in question are Hardwick Hall and Bolsover Castle.
In the end my decision came down to my Yorkshire core values, it would be Bolsover Castle as Donna has corporate free access to English Heritage sites :-) We'd have to pay for visiting the National Trust run Hardwick Hall.
Within 30 minutes we'd arrived in Bolsover, and after driving around for about 10 minutes we'd found somewhere to park, and yes even that was free! Double bonus. Only a short walk to the castle itself and we were soon in the grounds. The castle had looked quite imposing as we drove up the hill from the motorway, I just wish I'd taken time to get a photo on route but I didn't; more fool me.
Today would be the first run out of my new Canon 70-200 F4 L IS lens, nicknamed the 'Beast' by me, it was a great surprise gift given to me by Donna last week. I would however only be taking a few photos with it, as it's main use will be for rugby so many of today's photos would come from my trusty 18-55 IS lens which is much more suited to close quarters work.
We spent around 2hrs in the castle, some of it is very well preserved, some a little less so but overall a great structure and well worth visiting. There were the usual 'tribes' of schoolchildren on their outings with teacher, some with pads and pens, and some with Tablet PC's; oh how things have changed since we were nippers. Thankfully the weather was beautiful, just as it was last week on our trip to Crich so need need to worry about getting wet or having 'flat' photos to view when we came back.
After taking in the castle itself and the great views from it's lofty position, it was time to head back north and get some lunch. We had an idea as to what we might have, and even though our friend Alexa (the proprietor) tempted us with other delicacies, we went for the fish finger sandwiches. Obviously we're not talking Captain Birds-Eye and your standard 'white sliced'. They were gorgeous, and came with a small pot of mushy peas and another pot containing home-made Tartare Sauce. Donna washed hers down with old fashioned Dandelion & Burdock, and I enjoyed a White Hot Chocolate with Mini Marshmallows. A much more filling lunch that I expected, but great value and great taste.
In the end my decision came down to my Yorkshire core values, it would be Bolsover Castle as Donna has corporate free access to English Heritage sites :-) We'd have to pay for visiting the National Trust run Hardwick Hall.
Within 30 minutes we'd arrived in Bolsover, and after driving around for about 10 minutes we'd found somewhere to park, and yes even that was free! Double bonus. Only a short walk to the castle itself and we were soon in the grounds. The castle had looked quite imposing as we drove up the hill from the motorway, I just wish I'd taken time to get a photo on route but I didn't; more fool me.
Today would be the first run out of my new Canon 70-200 F4 L IS lens, nicknamed the 'Beast' by me, it was a great surprise gift given to me by Donna last week. I would however only be taking a few photos with it, as it's main use will be for rugby so many of today's photos would come from my trusty 18-55 IS lens which is much more suited to close quarters work.
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