Darley Abbey Park and Allestree

Back to full strength today and with 2 of us being under the weather we decided a short expedition would fit the bill. Ike had heard they had found the remains of an old ice house associated Darley Hall so we went off in search. We parked up by the river at the bottom end of the village not far from the Abbey pub. We had a look at the weir's overlooking the mill then wandered along to the Abbey pub and into the grounds of the park. We stopped a local who pointed us in the direction of the excavation which we think we found. The dig took place in the last 2 weeks of September and it looks like they covered it over again when they had finished, all we found was a patch of ground that had obviously been worked and then left it covered over. We wandered into the upper reaches of the park an area I've never been and we found this fantastic walled garden. The garden is the home of the National Hydrangea Collection and is the largest collection in the UK and the third largest in the world. From there we found ourselves in the grounds of St. Matthews Church in Darley Abbey, built by Walter Evans in 1819 for the workers in his fathers mill. A short walk brought us back to the car and we had another look around the weir area before getting into the car and heading up to Allestree recreation ground. Geoff wanted to look around his old childhood haunts including his old school, playing area's and a quick look at Allestree Park.

Mist on the way to Darley Abbey

Darley Abbey Mill on the river Derwent

The Square Darley Abbey

The Abbey Pub

Moon disappearing behind a cloud.

The Old Stables

Great spiders web 

Found this up a tree

St. Mattews Church from the walled garden in Darley Abbey Park

The Walled garden

Geoff

Old blocked up GR letter box

Toll House

St. Mathews Church

Graves of the Evans family

Weir at Darley Abbey

St. Edmund's Church

Village water pump

Allestree golf course

Allestree Hall

The cottage behind the signpost is called 2 mile cottage.

Looks like a face

Geoff's Mum & Dad's name are on this memorial stone.

The old Vicarage for St. Edmund's

Geoff's old school

 On the way back we stopped the car in Duffield to photograph a Blue Plaque fixed onto the railings telling about the Bradshaw Stone which is built into the adjoining stone wall. There is some fascinating history in the locality.