May 2025

We started the month with some very warm weather, it was actually a relief when it cooled down a little, but it wasn't long until the gorgeous weather returned.

We haven't had as many days out this month, mainly because Mick's cricket season is back in full swing and so Saturdays are now, once again, taken up. We can still enjoy our little jaunts on a Sunday though and that's exactly what we did on the 11th when Nunnington Hall held their Loving Local event. We're National Trust members but as it was free to get into the estate on this day, Eleanor, Jacob and Jack came with us. It was a lovely day out.

I've read four books this month.

I picked up The Appeal by Janice Hallett in a charity shop and I thoroughly enjoyed reading it. A murder mystery set within an amateur dramatics society, and with a charity fundraiser for a little girl's life-saving medical treatment thrown into the mix, but written in a unique way. This is a whodunnit with a difference. The whole book is a series of emails and messages which have been written by each of the suspects. This correspondence could solve the case. Such an original way to write a crime novel, I loved it, and no, I didn't solve the case though I picked up on various clues and it was a compelling read. I'm not sure I'd like all books to be written in this style but I enjoyed it for its novelty factor.

The Ghost Fields is the seventh book in the Dr Ruth Galloway series by Elly Griffiths. I'm really enjoying this series, not only for the murder/mystery aspect but also because of the characters. I was recently asked by someone if they should read the books in order and I would say most definitely yes. The murder/mysteries are standalone stories but the characters lives and relationships progress in each book. Another great read.

Amanda Prowse is a prolific author, she's written many books about women and family life. I enjoy the subjects she bases her stories around, many are hard-hitting and emotional but you can tell she writes from the heart. This One Life is Madeleine's story, it explores the choices that women make, their reasons for doing so, and asks the question can you really have it all? It's quite hard to understand why someone would make a different choice from the one you'd make yourself but it can be for all sorts of different reasons.

Back to my reading of classics and this time I chose Madame Bovary by Gustave Flaubert. I didn't know anything about this story before I read it. Emma Bovary is the wife of a village doctor, he loves and adores her, but for Emma, that adoration is one sided as her husband just doesn't live up to the men she's read about in romance novels and so she goes on to have adulterous affairs as well as getting into debt to buy her lovers expensive gifts. I didn't like the central character and the story was very slow. I kept waiting for something more to happen, it picked up a little at the end but to be honest, I found it rather boring and it wasn't for me.

After visiting quite a few bridal boutiques, Jasmine has finally found her dream wedding dress. The wedding is a year away yet but it's advisable to get this sorted early to allow time for ordering from the designer and alterations. Jasmine's family live in America so I was honoured to be asked to go dress shopping with her.

Eleanor and Jacob moved house on the 7th. After Jack arrived, they realised that they needed somewhere bigger. The new house is marginally closer to where we live, about half an hour's walk away. It's got four bedrooms so there's space now if they want to extend their family. There's a nice size garden for Jack to play in and it's well established with shrubs and flowers, it just needs a bit of tidying up as it's been left to its own devices while the sale was going though. I had Jack for ten hours on the day they moved while they were getting sorted out and I've been on granny duty quite a bit since too, it's much easier for them to get things done when they don't have Jack to look after.

You may remember that I started the Nature's Walk Blanket by Sandra Paul last year. I've now finished all the squares and I've spent some time sewing in the ends (remind me never to leave this job till the end again) and blocking them. I'm now at the point where I'm ready to join the squares together and add the border but I'm putting it to one side until we get some cooler weather again. I don't think this is the project to be working on during the summer months.

We're away on holiday at the moment. When we got Archie, we decided that we never wanted to put him in kennels, we wouldn't ask other people to look after him either. Consequently, we took holidays in the UK so that he could come away with us. Looking back I'm glad we did that. There's some lovely places to visit in this county and we made so many happy memories with Archie by our side. Our last holiday abroad, before we got Archie, was in 2008, and our last proper holiday in this country, for one reason or another (looking after elderly parents, covid, Archie aging) was back in 2018, though we have managed a few weekends away since then. A couple of weeks ago, Eleanor and Jacob booked a holiday to Majorca at short notice, they've gone for eleven days. Mick and I, as well as Daniel and Jasmine, decided to tag along (with Eleanor and Jacob's permission of course) for a week, and that's where we are now, hopefully soaking up the sun and enjoying a cocktail or two. I'm writing this post in advance so there's no photos to show here (though I may be posting on my Instagram account(jothroughthekeyhole)). Instead, I'll leave a photo of Archie enjoying time on the beach at Trebarwith Strand in Cornwall back in 2016. He was just six here and though he had recently been diagnosed with a heart murmur, went on to live almost nine years more.

June, one of my favourite months is upon us, the end of spring and the beginning of summer. Days with the most hours of daylight and the summer solstice. It's also the month that Jack was born, can you believe that he will be one already? I can't. We're beginning the month in Majorca but it won't be long before we're home again.

Inside Hardwick Hall

Following on from my previous post about the gardens at Hardwick, we'll take a look inside the Hall now. I didn't take many photos, many of the rooms are rather dark in order to preserve the exhibits inside. Things such as textiles and watercolours are light-sensitive and would deteriorate so light levels are carefully monitored.

Looking down from the gallery at the west end of the Great Hall. This gallery is the only link on the first floor between the two ends of the house.

Hardwick is famed for its tapestries, there's a huge collection hung in just about every room. They were mostly sourced and collected by Bess in the later part of the sixteenth century. Even the walls in the staircases are covered with them.

Bess used tapestries to show her wealth and status.

The Gideon Tapestries are hung in the Long Gallery. This room runs the whole length of the east side of the house and was used for entertaining guests and for taking exercise in the form of walking when the weather was bleak. The Gideon Tapestries are a set of thirteen Brussels tapestries which portray the Old Testament story of Gideon. They cost Bess £326 15s 9d in 1592 and it was the largest and most expensive purchase she made for the house.

The Best Bedchamber was the State Bedroom reserved for Bess's most important guests.

The curtains weren't drawn in this room, you can see that the windows allow plenty of light to enter.

My favourite areas of any large house are the servant's quarters and the kitchen. At Hardwick, the servants were housed in the Old Hall so there was nothing to see here but I did enjoy looking in the kitchen.

The kitchen lies below the level of the other rooms in the coldest part of the house on the north side. In Bess's time, cooking was carried out over huge open fires.

Such a stunning collection of copper pots and pans.

This is the earliest surviving cooking range in the kitchen. Each 'stove' was heated separately by burning charcoal in the grates beneath.

The room next door, still on the north side of the house, provided the perfect, cool conditions for making pastry products.

The ovens.

Through the window at the rear of the house, there's that view again.

Bess of Hardwick died on the 13th of February 1608 at Hardwick Hall. She was in her eighties. She's buried in Derby Cathedral. After her death, Hardwick Hall passed to her son, William Cavendish, 1st Earl of Devonshire. His great-grandson, William, was created 1st Duke of Devonshire in 1694. The Devonshires preferred Chatsworth for their principal seat so Hardwick became a hunting retreat. During the Second World War, the army leased 53 acres of the estate to establish a camp where the 1st Parachute Brigade and later the 2nd and 3rd Parachute Battalions were formed. After the war it was turned into a Polish resettlement camp for allied soldiers. The last occupant of Hardwick Hall was Evelyn, Duchess of Devonshire. Upon the death of the 10th Duke of Devonshire, it was decided to hand the house over to HM Treasury in lieu of Estate Duty. The Treasury handed the house over to the National Trust in 1959 but the Duchess remained in the house until her death in 1960.

If you get the chance to visit Hardwick I would highly recommend it. Bess of Hardwick was such an interesting woman in history and the property is fascinating.

Hardwick

We had a lovely day out at Hardwick in Derbyshire at the beginning of April, I thought I'd take you along with us.

Hardwick Hall in Derbyshire is an Elizabethan country house which was built between 1590 and 1597 for Elizabeth Talbot, Countess of Shrewsbury, known more commonly as Bess of Hardwick. Bess was an interesting woman from the Elizabethan age. She had a series of well-made marriages, rose through the ranks of society and, being a shrewd businesswoman, became extremely wealthy. The most famous of her building projects is Chatsworth, the seat of the Dukes of Devonshire who descend from the children of her second marriage. Her last husband was George Talbot, 6th Earl of Shrewsbury who was entrusted with the custody of Mary, Queen of Scots, for nearly fifteen years. At periods during this time, Bess of Hardwick and Mary worked together on the Oxburgh Hangings, needlework bed hangings which are now housed in Oxburgh Hall in Norfolk.

Bess was born around 1521 on the site of the old Hardwick Hall, shown above, to a family of Derbyshire landowners. Little is known about her early life but by her mid teens she was at court in London as a Lady in Waiting to a member of her extended family. From here she married well, accumulated her wealth, and after the deaths of four husbands, Bess commissioned the building of Hardwick Hall.

It was a beautiful day when we visited, sunshine and blue sky, but there was a chill in the wind.

We visited Hardwick at around the same time last year when we had Archie with us. Dogs weren't allowed in the gardens at that time so we were surprised to see that's since changed, dogs are now allowed everywhere except inside the Hall.

The gardens, although a little bare when we visited, are planted with herbs as well as flowers and I'm guessing vegetables as there were rhubarb plants in one bed. In fact, Hardwick has one of the finest herb gardens in the country, over 150 varieties of common and more unusual herbs are grown here.

There's also an ornamental orchard as well as a fruit orchard.

Plants are grown which produce natural dye and I believe there are occasionally demonstrations of historical dyeing techniques given by the staff and volunteers here.

One of my favourite spring plants, the primrose.

I love this area beneath the tree which has been left to run a little wild. The daffodils which had been blooming had faded and the snakeshead fritillaries were now doing their thing.

There's a long yew avenue to the side of the house. At the crossroads of this avenue are four lead statues nestled in niches cut into the yew hedges.

Here we are at the gate to the rear garden, let's go and take a look inside.

The rear view of the Hall. I wouldn't like to clean all those windows. Glass was a luxury material in the 1590s when the Hall was built.

There are several yews in the rear garden which have been topiaried into mushroom shapes.

The borders were nicely filled with spring plants and bulbs.

What a fantastic view looking out from the rear of the Hall.

Bess herself looking out upon that view.

I'll leave this post here, I think that's enough for one day, but come back next time and I'll show you inside the Hall.

April 2025

The weather was beautiful at the start of the month and it hasn't been too bad at all throughout April. We've managed to get lots of jobs in the garden crossed off our list and spent plenty of time outdoors.

We've had some fabulous days out this month: National Trust properties Hardwick Hall, Nunnington Hall and Clumber Park; Halifax Piece Hall; The Deep in Hull; and on Easter Sunday we had a lovely day in Haworth. We visited the Bronte Parsonage Museum which was very interesting. There was an artisan market on in the park and all the independent shops on Main Street were open to look round. Later in the day there was a reenactment of the day the Brontes, Yorkshire's famous literary family, moved from Thornton to Haworth, which was exactly two hundred and five years ago to the day. The people involved were in period costume and it was a lovely way to round off our visit.

Granny's little Easter chick. Jack's ten months now and into everything. He's such a happy boy, we love him to bits. He had an eventful time on Saturday being rushed to A&E after his first taste of peanut butter, his lips swelled up and he developed a rash around his mouth. It seems he has a nut allergy and so he's waiting for a referral to the allergy clinic.

I've read five books this month.

We All Live Here is the latest book by Jojo Moyes. I'm a big fan, you never know what her latest offering will bring but I know I'll always enjoy it. This book did hold my interest and draw me in but I don't think it's one of her best. It's probably just me, I've enjoyed some of her other books more.

I only recently learned that Elaine Everest died last year. I've read every one of her books and I've thoroughly enjoyed the Woolworths Girls series, they're nice easy reads and good, original stories. A Christmas Wish at Woolworths is the latest in the series and I enjoyed it just as much as the earlier books. It's good to catch up with characters you've got to know well. I believe there's another book due out this year which was written before her death. It's sad that the series is coming to a close.

Dying Fall by Elly Griffiths is the fifth book in the Dr Ruth Galloway series. The story, this time, is set in Lancashire, which is away from the usual setting of Norfolk. Nelson just happens to be taking a holiday around his old stomping ground in Blackpool so his path seemed destined to cross once more with Ruth's. Such good plots, I read these books so quickly, I could get through the whole series in no time at all, but I'm rationing myself, I don't want to finish them too soon.

I put The List of Suspicious Things by Jennie Godfrey on my wish list just as soon as I'd read the first review. Having grown up myself in West Yorkshire during the period of the Yorkshire Ripper, I can relate to the fear and uncertainty of the time. I must have been around the same age as Miv, the protagonist, or perhaps a year or two younger. Although the story follows the timeline of the Ripper and his victims, the book is really about friendship and a community pulling together. I loved the characters in this book, I loved the story, I felt is was really well written and kept me wanting to turn the pages. Definitely my favourite book this year, so far!

Now I know I've just said that I'm rationing the Elly Griffiths books but no, I couldn't stop myself from reading a second one this month. The Outcast Dead has two storylines running parallel, the first from back in Victorian times and one current and up to date, however, they both have something in common, the deaths of children. Another great read, in fact I think this one was my favourite of the Dr Ruth Galloway series so far.

I've finished another little cardigan for Jack. It's my favourite Baby Aosta Cardigan pattern by The Knit Purl Girl and this is the seventh one I've now knit for different babies. Eleanor wanted a replica of the very first one I knitted for Jack in Sirdar Snuggly in the Twinkle Toes colourway ready to wear over the summer months. He'll be a year old in June so I started the 12M size but it knitted up very small, I've found Sirdar Snuggly to be a lighter DK weight so this will be why. I pulled it back and rather than going for the 18M, I've knit the 24M. If it's too big for him at a year old, he'll grow into it at some point.

Exactly a month to the day since Archie died, we went back to Lotherton. Although it's somewhere we've visited so regularly, we just couldn't face it before. It was Archie's place. A few tears were shed. It's so difficult wherever we go without Archie, he was always with us, but he loved Lotherton so much. It's a good few years now since he's been able to manage the Boundary Walk, it was a little too far for him in his later life, but it was a walk we used to do on a Sunday morning when he was young. We did that walk again, as well as taking a walk through the woodland which he always loved. Our grieving continues.

There are two bank holidays in May but we haven't got anything planned as yet. Mick's cricket season has started again so days out on a Saturday are a thing of the past until September's here but we'll still be looking to get out on our little jaunts whenever we can. The weather forecast looks very good for the start of the month, let's hope it continues.

National Trust

As well as joining the RSPB last year, we also joined the National Trust. We've visited National Trust properties in the past but didn't think a membership would benefit us as many of the properties they look after weren't very dog friendly. In recent years the National Trust seem to have become more inclusive and they now allow dogs in many of the gardens and parkland so we decided to take out an annual membership.

A joint membership cost us £151.20, though you can pay monthly by direct debit if you wish rather than in one lump sum. Again, as I did with our RSPB membership, I kept a note of all the National Trust properties we visited over the year to see what we would have paid had we not taken out a membership, and it was the same as with the RSPB, we'd broke even within four months.

Calke Abbey. We didn't go inside the house so we would have paid £7.50 each for entry to the parkland and gardens had we not been members. Admission to the house costs £12.50 for non-members and is in addition to the Parkland and Gardens. £15 saved.

Fountains Abbey. Admission is £19 for non members. We visited three times £114 saved.

We also visited Fountains by Floodlight, an after dark event which was free for members but £10 per ticket otherwise. £20 saved.

Studley Royal Water Garden. Set within the same site as Fountains Abbey, one admission fee allows entry to both, however, we visited each at different times. Non-members pay £19 and there's free parking near the visitors centre, however, the car park adjacent to Studley Royal which we used is pay & display, free for National Trust members, or £6 for 4 hours or £9 all day for non-members. We visited twice. £88 saved.

Beningbrough Hall. Admission is £14 for non-members. We visited four times. £112 saved.

Hardwick Hall. Admission is £19 for non-members. £38 saved.

Nostell. Dogs aren't allowed in the house or gardens so we only visited the parkland. Parking costs £5 for non-members, house or gardens £8 or a combined ticket for the house and gardens £12. We visited twice. £10 saved.

Ilam Park. Non-member parking, up to 4 hours costs £5, all day costs £7. £5 saved.

Clumber Park. Admission is £5 for non-members. £10 saved.

Nunnington Hall. Admission is £11 for non-members. We visited twice. £44 saved.

Belton Estate. Admission is £15 on Tuesday or Wednesday or £18 Thursday to Monday for non-members. £30 saved.

Wentworth Castle Gardens. Admission is £6 for non-members. We visited twice. £24 saved.

Ormesby Hall. Admission is £6.50 for non-members. £13 saved.

Lyme. We didn't go inside the house so we would have paid £7 each for entry to the Park and Gardens had we not been members. Admission to the House, Park and Gardens costs £15 for non-members. £14 saved.

Quarry Bank. Admission is £22 for non-members. £44 saved.

Brimham Rocks. Non-member parking, up to four hours costs £6.50, all day costs £10. We visited twice. £13 saved.

East Riddlesden Hall. Admission is £6.50 for non-members. £13 saved.

Hardcastle Crags. Non-member parking, up to 4 hours costs £5, all day costs £8. £5 saved.

Dunham Massey. We didn't go inside the house so we would have paid £9 each for entry to the park and gardens had we not been members. Admission to the house costs £17 for non-members and is in addition to the park and gardens. £18 saved.

So in total we would have spent £630 on admission to these places. That's a huge £478.80 more than what we paid for our membership. In fairness, I should point out that we visited some of the places purely because we were passing on the way to somewhere else, we wouldn't have popped in for so short a time if we'd had the admission price to pay, but as we had our membership that didn't matter.

Our membership also included the National Trust Handbook which details the places cared for by the National Trust and opening times. They sent us one at the start of our membership and another at the beginning of this year. In addition to this, members also receive the National Trust Magazine three times throughout the course of the year.

The prices quoted in the post were correct at the times we visited. Some, if not all, of the properties have now increased their prices, and the price of joint membership has also now increased to £160.60.

For us, the membership has been well worth it. We've renewed our membership for another year and have already visited Hill Top, Beatrix Potter's farmhouse retreat in the Lake District as well as other places.

Do you have National Trust membership? What are your experiences with it?