Over the Thanksgiving break we headed up north to England....Derby, England to be exact. The purpose of the trip was to attend a 3-day conference. The thought of spending some quality time in the suburbs of England was exciting. That is until we arrived. Derby, for all it's charm, is much like a typical US city. Huge shopping mall in the middle of town, plenty of traffic, and some great places to see and visit........but not worthy for taking pictures. I think everyone is familiar with shopping malls, regardless of location. Not to say we had a bad time in Derby...quite the opposite. We enjoyed a fantastic meal each night and really enjoyed walking around the city exploring. There was a great visit out to the world headquarters for Denby, the pottery and dinning set maker (yes, that is the official dinning set in the Shull house).
The good stuff, and picture-worthy, occurred on our ride back to the airport. We heard of taking the train stop in Edale and exploring this little village that is nestled in the heart of England's Peak District National Park.
Immediately after we departed the train we headed out to the only local inn and restaurant in the village (that we could see): the Rambler Inn. What a cool spot! The views from the inn:
During our short visit we took a quick trip around the village to see some of the local sights. Love these hand-built rock walls that were all over the fields and sides of the road.
Unfortunately we had only but about an hour to spare, so we quickly finished our meal and boarded the train back to the airport. During our short time in Edale we discovered that this place is prime for spending a weekend walking in the fields between villages. How cool is that?!? You start off in one village with a general sense of direction, walk through the fields and forests, find another village, get something to eat, and continue on until you are tired and then you simply stay over that night. Safe to say that there are plans brewing right now for our return to the magic village of Edale this coming spring....
