The Peak District is one of newest and largest national parks in England and sits smack dab in the middle of county Derbyshire. The Peak District is named as such because of it's majestic hills and mountains. Most of the park is devoid of massive forests and instead lays claim to open fields and grasslands. The Pennine Way, the longest walking bath in Britain, begins in North Derbyshire and extends right to the Scottish border. Walking the Pennine Way takes you across the Pennine region through mountains and valleys and can take upwards of a month to traverse on foot.
In the middle of the Peak District is a fun little place called
Chestnut Centre, Owl & Wildlife Sanctuary. On this particular day in March myself and my new-found Photography Club friends met up in the Derbyshire sanctuary to walk the paths and see the animals that call Britain home.
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| One of the otters that call Chestnut home. If memory serves this little guy was one of two American River Otters. |
The ride to the Peak District was exciting for me. I'd only been through by train and you miss so much scenery travelling that way. Being in the passenger side of a zippy sports car going through the mountains has been one of the highlights of being here so far.
You pass by quite a few small towns on the way to Chestnut. Several towns in the area, including a small place called
Eyam, were known for having terrible casualties during the Bubonic Plague.
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| I don't know what sort of structure is up that hill but it was amazing nonetheless. |
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| Gotta respect a place that uses all Comic Sans MS on their main board in to the park. |
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| This wonderful view is deep in the sanctuary on a path up/down to the animal enclosures. |
The entirety of the day was the sun playing tag behind the lingering, low hanging grey clouds. Every now and then it would splash it's dazzling rays across the landscape and I rushed to snap a photo.
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| This shot was taken using my Canon camera. I've noticed that the two brands have amazing disparity between shots so take to bringing both with me many places. |
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The backs of the heads of the photography group. You won't find too many portraits in my blog or photos mainly because I believe in privacy and anonymity and there's no reason to splash their faces everywhere.
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| How sweet is he? Don't you just want to pick him up and give him a cuddle? He'll most likely bite you, but you'd forget that pretty quick with a face like that. If memory serves this is little Pickwick the Asian Short-Clawed otter. |
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| The heard of Fallow Deer at the sanctuary. Somewhere in there are two "adopted" Manchurian Sika does but I haven't the faintest idea which those are! |
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| There were several males but this was very obviously the leader of this group. |
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| This stag was the oldest and largest male of the group. The entire herd was exceptionally comfortable around people but he was wary around us and I kept my distance from him. Thank goodness for telephoto. |
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| I'm actually not a daffodil nut but during the late winter it's about the only flowers blooming! |
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| One of the blessedly quiet paths in the sanctuary. The place was large enough you could lose most crowds pretty quickly. |
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| This is a pet cemetery. I'm not kidding. Stephen King is not allowed here. |
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| By the time I got down to here my hips and knees were yelling at me to stop but the place was just too beautiful so I had to keep going! |
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| On the way back from the sanctuary we took a different route and got to see some amazing vistas. |
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| These old farm cottages are astounding and make me love and appreciate Britain that much more. |
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| On the way back just after passing through Eyam. |
I'm very much looking forward to owning my own car and driving here myself whenever I please. I'm in the midst of driving lessons now and surprisingly am doing quite well. Afterwards I'll choose a car for myself, pay the exorbitant fees for road tax, MOT if it needs it and insurance and petrol and away I'll go!
The next grand adventure will be very, very grand indeed. Possibly the largest one yet. It won't be for a while so stay tuned for the next instalment of this crazy life of mine!
