Working, Hosting and Exploring!

This month has been a real mixture of working hard at the clinic, having a few lovely guests to stay in between, and getting myself out and about a bit at last, to explore some of my new beautiful surroundings.

Work has been pretty hectic! We have introduced a couple of fabulous new membership plans, and prices have had to increase slightly, so it’s been a busy one! I’ve been working hard to try and increase my client base, delivering promotional postcards to all the small local businesses, whilst managing all the front of house tasks, and also working on some business development ideas. We have introduced Indian Head Massage to my offerings now, and the other therapist that offers this there is Sarah, who has been really supportive of that, which was great. One of the other lovely therapists Libby, kindly invited me out for dinner with her and one of her clients this month too, which was a real treat, and it was really lovely to spend some social time together out of clinic.

I have tried to take myself out when not at work this month, as my first month of moving here and starting work I was just too busy to go anywhere! I explored the lovely ‘Peak Village’ at Rowsley early in May, as they had a fabulous craft fair on, along with some live music. They have a lovely collection of different shops in which to browse here, as well as a café and a garden centre to wander around.

I then went along to an arts event at the lovely buzzing market town of Belper, and caught up with a friends daughter who works at the little cinema here. There were lots of different marquees up with arts and crafts folk offering their goods, as well as some live music on the stage, which was great.

Then I finished off that day, by popping to the Denby Pottery Village. They have the factory shop there, as well as the lovely plant centre, a huge gift shop and a lovely café too. I didn’t have long that afternoon, so will definitely go back another day for a proper look around.

My wonderful sister and one of her lovely friends Catherine, came to stay with me for two nights this month which was fantastic. We explored some of the gorgeous little local villages around here, such as Ashford-in-the-Water, Youlgrave, Baslow, Little Longstone and Eyam - which is known as the ‘Plague Village’, as it became famous after the Black Death of 1665 and 1666, when the villagers decided to isolate themselves from the surrounding communities. We also visited other lovely areas in the Hope Valley, as well as popping down to Bakewell.

We also managed to take in the fantastic view at Monsal Head. So many walkers and hikers come to this area for the various walks on offer here – but we were lucky enough to just stumble across it on our way home! So - I will definitely be back to walk here on a free Sunday sometime – it is simply stunning.

Coffee and cake was of course had in a few of those places! We had a pint in the local pub here, and had a laugh watching ‘Eurovision’ too! We also went to see the famous ‘Welldressing’ event at Tissington, which was just fabulous. What a gorgeous village that is. More than 80 towns and villages in Derbyshire and the Peak District take part in this unique tradition and custom each spring and summer, where stunning pictures and floral displays are made out of all natural materials such as petals, seeds and eggshells by volunteers!

Myself, my sister and Catherine also joined my lovely friend Faye up here for a board games evening, and my fab friend Rebecca for a drink and some card games. We had a great time catching up and exploring the area together.

I have also met up with a lovely lady called Natalie for breakfast one morning, who we have a mutual friend with down south which was really nice, and I have made a few new friends at a village book club here in Sheldon, which a couple of the neighbours were kind enough to invite me to. I am trying to find time to be a bit more sociable!

My wonderful friend Janie, her husband Neil and their two fabulous kids have been a godsend to me since I moved up here. They only live about 45 minutes away, so have been a constant source of support to me. They invited me to a BBQ at one of their lovely friends houses this month too, which was great fun. Then myself and Janie managed to have a day together, to visit the gorgeous Haddon Hall.

Haddon Hall is a stunning medieval historical building, set in the most beautiful area. There are many things to see here, and you can really feel the history in the walls of all the buildings. The intricate drawings on the inside of the chapel made that one of our favourite things to see – they were just beautiful.

The gardens here are so pretty too. Beautiful views from up high, and I think this would be a really special place to just sit and contemplate. It felt very restful to me – a lovely place to be. The sun shone for us all day, and we had the most wonderful time, then an early dinner back at my rental home in the garden, which was lovely.

As well as them checking up on me all the time, Janie and Neil surprised me with an annual Membership for Chatsworth House this month! I couldn’t believe it. I went for the first time yesterday, exploring for over 5 hours and had a truly amazing day. Myself and Janie have got a joint membership, so I’m looking forward to going back with her again soon, and with anyone else that comes up to visit! The membership gives free tickets to a lot of their events for 12 months, so it’s lovely to know I can go whenever I like, even if I only have a couple of hours to spare. It is a stunning house – it is huge – with so many things to see and learn about. I will definitely need a few visits to look at it all properly! This was a beautiful old painting that I saw, which depicted just some of the estate.

Obviously it was only my first visit, but I think my favourite parts of the house were the stunning Painted Hall, the Sculpture Gallery and the simply beautiful Library. This was the Painted Hall that is one of the first main rooms you see when you come into the house.

Many areas of the house are very dark (they obviously need to preserve all the paintings, artefacts, fabrics and tapestries etc) but the Sculpture Gallery gave a much needed lift, with its bright, airy feel.

I think the room I would love to spend the most time in though, would be the familys own Library. Oh to spend days flicking through all the books in this collection! Just beautiful.

Chatsworth is set in beautiful grounds, with gorgeous gardens, and all the staff and volunteers there were super helpful and informative. It’s going to be wonderful to have somewhere here to visit that is only 15 minutes from where I am living. There was a beautiful lake area and a grotto at the far end of the estate, which was really peaceful, and a man was playing gentle guitar here. A really good place for rest and thought.

There is a fabulous Maze there too, which is great fun for kids and adults alike – I’ll save that for when I have someone with me though, in case I get lost!

There are some wonderful views of Chatsworth from different corners and parts of the grounds. This was a nice shot I took from the Kitchen Garden areas. The whole place is vast… you definitely need more than one day to see everything that this stunning estate has to offer.