Today was biking, picnicking and Kedleston Hall. We had good weather for biking but it was pretty chilly in the shade and breeze.
We drove to the start of the Vissington Cycle Trail which is west of Nottingham near Derby.
Fiona drove on to the Vissington car park and Mike and I hired e-bikes and set off with Steve to meet her 3 miles away.
The bike hire bloke called me ‘young lady’ about 10 times too many and issued me with this step through bike that was like a toy. I made heavy going to start with as the seat was too low and the bits of trail that I thought were flat were actually a reasonable uphill climb. Hence I was in the wrong gear much of the time and trying not to use too much assistance – and blaming the bike more than was actually fair!
After rejoining Fiona we biked on to the end of the trail where we had coffee and a snack (breakfast) and then back to Tissington.
The trail is along a former railway line and is incredibly pretty with frequent views over the Peak District with farms crisscrossed with dry stone walls. The ride was about 40km in total and was good exercise.
Fiona had parked in the village itself which is incredibly pretty. Then out came the picnic of pork pie, roast chicken and asparagus. We had a slight drama when there was no corkscrew but I trotted down to the cafe and they lent me one. Act like a tourist and your wishes get granted (no acting required).
What this photo doesn’t show is that we were sitting in front of a row of cars all parked along this village street. And in the car immediately behind our picnic were 3 elderly people (more elderly than us) all having a snooze. They woke up and left at about the same time we started to discuss the merits of the monarchy!
After a much, much easier descent back to return our bikes we set off for Kedleston Hall. We had to be there by 3.15 if we wanted to get inside and were 4 minutes late, but again I was able to pull out the NZ tourist card and they let us in.
Kedleston is another National Trust site that was built by the Curzons who were local landowners and minor gentry. The house is Palladian in style and extremely grand and the family continues to live in one of the wings. The grounds are also lovely and were designed by John Adams, who also designed the interior. A very grand Georgian house and thoroughly worth the visit.
We returned to Nottingham via Derby where Steve showed us where he grew up and the Rolls Royce complex where half the family worked. They make jet engines there. The rest worked for British Rail but the rail yards have all been demolished. We were much taken with the very small size of many of the front doors to the terraced houses in Steve’s former neighbourhood. I’d be surprised if some of them were any more than 500mm wide. How you get a fridge or any furniture through is a mystery! Unfortunately we didn’t think to get a photo.