Osmaston & Shirley

We had guests with us this week, Geoff's daughter Sally and her hubby Brian while our Rob was off on a medal hunt. We all crammed into Ike's car and headed up to Osmaston village where we parked alongside the pond. We got booted up and headed off down towards the old sawmill. The day before there was an event and some of the staging was still in place. The sawmill is a fascinating place with some of the machinery still on show.  We then carried up the track and continued on to the lovely village of Shirley. We wandered into St. Michael's Church and were welcomed, its a beautiful little church which dates from the 14th century.  there are some great windows and a set of pews dated from it looks like 1649. We had our breakfast in the church yard and then set off back on the track we had came on. On the way back we found a swing on an old tree and Sally had a go on it. Back to the car and on the way home we called in to see Ike's daughter Rachel and family. They are rebuilding their old cottage and making a fantastic job of it with wonderful views of the open countryside. When its finished this will be a very desirable residence.

This weeks route through Shirley Park

Parked up near the pond

Osmaston Pond

Osmaston Saw Mill

Sally

This just shows the depth of the sand and gravel, it must be at least 4 feet deep

The track down to Shirley was just covered with daffodils, I've never seen this many before.

The National School Shirley opened 1845

St. Michael's Church Shirley

Breakfast time at St. Michael's churchyard

Ike

Geoff

Brian

Sally, me, Ike, Brian and Geoff standing at the back

Sally at the hole in the tree in front of the church

Sally and her dad

Loved these woods

Old tree trunk

Back to the old saw mill

Sally swinging about

Beautiful Osmaston village

The bench by the pond is made from horse shoes.

Horses passing Rachel's house

This is the view from Rachel & Nicks bedroom

Nick made this bed from an oak tree felled on his land.

Brian, Rachel & Sally

The whole gang

Archie

Rachel & Nick

 A cracking walk only 4 miles and in glorious weather, what more could you ask for. We spotted lots of pheasants a couple of squirrels and the birdsong throughout the walk was blissful.
See you next week.