The hammock came out of storage and was strung between the climbing frame.

Dandelion season is over now, but we did our share of seed dispersal.

The great swathes of yellow rapeseed were the most spectacular feature of the landscape during April.  I had trouble capturing the brilliance of the colours and it’s effect on the landscape with the camera, but we did find a footpath through a field, returning home covered in a dust of yellow pollen.

The flowers are almost entirely past now and the seed pods have started to swell.  The wheat grains are starting to ripen now, too.  It is a beautiful landscape here.

I parked just up the hill from Curbar village and soon found myself on Baslow Edge where there was an amazing view of Curbar Edge and Froggatt Edge to the north.  I think you just might be able to make out my car on the road below.  There were a few folk climbing here on Baslow Edge, but I didn’t bring my climbing gear since I was planning a relatively long walk and didn’t want to spend too much time climbing and not make it back to collect the kids in time.

I soon came to Eagle Rock and I wished that I had brought my climbing shoes since this stone just calls out to be climbed.  Legend, according to the author of the route instructions I was following, claims that this rock was a favorite of ancient witches of the area and that local lads used to climb it before becoming betrothed.

There are some interesting monuments to the Duke of Wellington and Admiral Nelson along the cliff edges as well as a decent view of the Chatsworth estate, the home of the Duke and Duchess of Devonshire.  I have a vague plan to go visit there sometime.  There is apparently a farmyard and adventure playground that might add appeal to the younger set who have perhaps become a bit jaded about seeing more enormous stately homes.

I also came across a fold of highland cattle.  For some reason, a group of highland cattle are not referred to as a “herd” but as a “fold”.  Anyway, these beautiful animals are well adapted to harsh conditions and low quality pasture and have been transplanted far and wide from their native Scottish Highlands.  I love the color of their shaggy coats.

I came upon more rock faces that I could only look at whistfully since by this point I was running short of time.

I did complete the walk and get back in time to pick up the kids and even had a couple of minutes to kick back in the sun and take these pictures from our garden:

Spring is coming!

The first blooms of spring have started to appear.  The snowdrops have been out for a bit now and the rest of the bulbs have been leaping from the soil to join them.

The kids were ready to go before we finished packing and spent some time on the swings waiting for us.

It isn’t particularly far to Hartington from Derby, but the kids made themselves comfortable and passed the time singing along to music.

The campground is in a field on a farm, apparently typical for camping in England. Molly brought her hammock, but was unable to find any suitable sturdy trees. The grass does provide a nice, soft surface for sleeping, though.

There were a number of our home educating friends who were there as well and the kids had a wonderful time romping through the meadow.

It threatened to rain just before dinner, so the kids got out the umbrellas. The clouds passed without any precipitation and the umbrellas became dens for some sort of game.

Not surprisingly, there were plenty of ungulates in the vicinity. I estimate that there are about 45 million ruminates (sheep and cattle). While this doesn’t approach the shear volume of countries like China and Australia or the ruminate/person ratios of New Zealand and the Falkland Islands (only 0.7 per person compared to 15 per person), it is a remarkable number of grazers in a relatively small area and they have a huge impact on the ecology and the landscape.

Here we are walking through one such landscape. The remarkable thing about this photo, besides the number of buttercups (apparently they aren’t tasty) is how tall River is compared to Molly. I think she must be having another growth spurt.

This is actually the same River Dove that we explored previously, only further upstream. An idyllic spot for a picnic and a swim.

The water was actually very, very, cold. The kids didn’t seem too bothered by it, though. I managed to get in for a few seconds, but it was too shallow to swim any distance and it was too cold to just lie there, so I gave up fairly quickly.

This patch of mud was nice and squishy!

River walked across the stepping stones to get across.

It is a beautiful time of year in England right now. Everything has been very green recently. Flowers are blooming everywhere.

I can’t resist taking wildflower pictures. This thistle was an amazing color!

Mayflies were abundant as well.

The kids spent a lot of time exploring a tunnel through the limestone cliff that connected the large cave opening with a smaller opening off to the side. Molly sent Sage through with the video camera. Needless to say, a video of a dark cave is not visually stimulating, but I found it fascinating nonetheless. You can hear the camera banging into the rock walls. Conversing while traversing this dark world apparently helped distract them from what might otherwise have been frightening.

One of the kids had a bat detector and we listened to some Chiropteran conversations as well. I think the bat detector works by frequency shifting the short wavelengths used by bats to communicate into pitches that our ears are capable of discerning.

Some of the folk we went with are planning to stay for the week. If the weather cooperates, we’re thinking of going back next weekend for another go.